OceanForest/HappyFrog Soil do you feed in addition or just water?

[Nizza]

i agree with a layer of perlite on the bottom only. this is similar to putting a pot on a milk crate

 

[DankTankerous]

Did you fix your intake issue? this is your underlying problem
with smart pots you want to raise the drain pan above the air intake because all that's happening is the air is cutting through and giving the roots too much air.
also , I have excellent success not cutting the soil with any perlite. the perlite combined with the smart pots is also redundant, the smart pot itself will improve drainage and air circulation no need for more. i put milk crates on my drain pan allowing air to go below the pots and around instead of forced through, and this works great because the soil is denser only the outer inch or so dries out

try this next time and especially with living soil I would bet it would be better than any plastic containers.
try Air pots too-- they are expensive but super easy to transplant from and also cleaning them is so simple. https://air-pot.com/garden/
Good luck bro just my insight on using the smart pots, they have always given me way bigger yields than plastic closed pots.

the only thing i recommend adding is possibly 1 tbsp/gal of soil of slow release lime. I use straight happy frog because the ocean forests powdered oyster shell really doesnt buffer the pH for as long as i need it too happy frog seems to lack calmag mid flower and on

Also... what are your daytime and night time intake temperatures?

I have not fixed it, I can get some milk crates tonight though.

My temps at night with lights off are at 59 upper 50’s. My apartment isn’t that insulated. Is that a problem? I really don’t want to buy a radiator, I don’t have central air and the Ol’ lady’s sinuses get fucked up from hot air blowing on her from the window unit. During the day it’s mid 70’s-81. Humidity has been low the past few days because of the low temperature, my cabinet is sitting at like 30-35%

All three plants have an inch or two of hydroton at the bottom

 

[DankTankerous]

I propped it up with some 6qt shoe boxes I use to grow mushrooms in. Tomorrow i’l Bring home milk crates

 

[Nizza]

The low temps is no good, take the average intake temp and thats your soil temp. 65-70 degrees is good for your soil temp. This is a big issue if your soil is colder you will have bad growth

To fix the basic issues figure out your temperatures and then decide what to do to fix it. It can be as simple as a small electric heater for 20$ near your intake on low. If your day tempsare 75-80 on intake and 50 at night, your average is 65 which is good.
If your day temps are 70 and night temps 55 your soil should be 62 which is still ok but you will see the plant stunt and get better results with the right intake temps.
If you had 59 degree air shooting right at the roots they were being frozen and also dried too much on one side.

 

[IIReignManII]

looking much better man! we can't tell you how much water to replace. you have to get a feel for it on your own. just remember, no runoff, and don't let it get light. vary between those two points and you will have no problems at all. maybe you want to get a scale to put them on to tell how much water to add. a gallon of water weighs 8lbs for reference. and a 3gal pot (i think that's what you said these are?) will never take a gallon without runoff. so you're looking to have a fluctuation of 2-4lbs of water (1/4-1/2 gallon) when watering. so water it, weight it, and when it weight 4lbs less... it's probably time to water again. if you water and there is runoff, give it a day before you take the weight, and then keep track from there. hope this helps

The scale thing is genius...never thought of that. I'm definitely going to do that

 

[DankTankerous]

The low temps is no good, take the average intake temp and thats your soil temp. 65-70 degrees is good for your soil temp. This is a big issue if your soil is colder you will have bad growth

To fix the basic issues figure out your temperatures and then decide what to do to fix it. It can be as simple as a small electric heater for 20$ near your intake on low. If your day tempsare 75-80 on intake and 50 at night, your average is 65 which is good.
If your day temps are 70 and night temps 55 your soil should be 62 which is still ok but you will see the plant stunt and get better results with the right intake temps.
If you had 59 degree air shooting right at the roots they were being frozen and also dried too much on one side.

So upon raising the pots above the intake port, the Madcap#1, which is nearest towards the window, was looking very good today. Here is the deal I have two 4in diameters intakes. Would I need to buy one for each intake or will one in all suffice.

 

[Nizza]

You will surely notice the design of your grow room and the parameters are key to not chasing issues
parameters include
proper airflow-- you look like you did it right besides the fact theyre blowing straight into those fabric pots which u fixed now.

if u notice your pots still drying out too fast possibly put the drain pan on top of the milk crates to block that air from drying the pots out since you cut the soil with perlite

your question about the heater-- just take the second intake and put the two intakes where they are outside the tent and loop the one further away so they both draw from where you point that space heater. its great you spaced them like that it will be more even airflow around those pots which is exactly what i like- a not too rapid air speed that travels around the pots, up through the foliage and then to the light an out.
you want this intake temp to be 65-70 no more no less

proper temps-- night 65-70 day 70-80

humidity--doesn't matter till mid flower with proper airflow and watering. some people add humidifiers to their house or just put water in a bucket with a wick going up to somewhere theres a lot of airflow ( the exhaust side of your inline fan)

I thought about what you said with your old lady not liking the window heater cause it dries out the place. i live somewhere quite cold and dry in the winter and bought this this season https://www.honeywellpluggedin.com/humidifiers/honeywell-top-fill-tower-humidifier-digital-humidistat-and-timer
it is simple and easy to use and makes a huge impact on humidity. just dont put this near your intake cause it could be too much humidity before mixing with the rest of the air. this will help your plants transpirate less making it so you dont have to water them as much and possibly leech out more nutrients

proper light-- look at the distance for your light. hps, fluorescent, and LEDs all have certain distances you want to start and end at. with LEDs especially, they are different depending on how it was designed. some are wide angles made to be closer and some are narrow made for further away. just check it out online what ur using to get a feel for how to hang ur lights.

proper soil- good soil will last you as a rule of thumb when the plant is growing vigorously, 1 gallon of soil=1 week of nutrients.
a one gallon pot will last a seedling about a month sometimes though so you need to take that into account for figuring how and when you want to add some nutrients. less is more!

the key for me being lazy, i go from clone or seed, into a 3 gallon pot, then into a 20 gallon pot. air pots say 20 gallons but are actually only 12-15 so alls im doing is buying myself time from having to add nutes, and also making it so i only have to water 1-2 times a week!

hope this helps bro!

 

[Nizza]

i like shluby's posts too man it is a great idea!
i usually just pick up on one side of my pot and can tell by feeling how light it gets if it needs more water, instead of prodding the soil all the time. i used to have some plants on my porch i would literally just push the top of the bucket with my foot instead of bending over to see how easily the pot tipped a little and could tell from that if it needs water-- similar idea

 

[ShLUbY]

i like shluby's posts too man it is a great idea!
i usually just pick up on one side of my pot and can tell by feeling how light it gets if it needs more water, instead of prodding the soil all the time. i used to have some plants on my porch i would literally just push the top of the bucket with my foot instead of bending over to see how easily the pot tipped a little and could tell from that if it needs water-- similar idea

i do the same thing in the far to reach spots of my garden. it works like a charm

 

[DankTankerous]

You will surely notice the design of your grow room and the parameters are key to not chasing issues
parameters include
proper airflow-- you look like you did it right besides the fact theyre blowing straight into those fabric pots which u fixed now.

if u notice your pots still drying out too fast possibly put the drain pan on top of the milk crates to block that air from drying the pots out since you cut the soil with perlite

your question about the heater-- just take the second intake and put the two intakes where they are outside the tent and loop the one further away so they both draw from where you point that space heater. its great you spaced them like that it will be more even airflow around those pots which is exactly what i like- a not too rapid air speed that travels around the pots, up through the foliage and then to the light an out.
you want this intake temp to be 65-70 no more no less

proper temps-- night 65-70 day 70-80

humidity--doesn't matter till mid flower with proper airflow and watering. some people add humidifiers to their house or just put water in a bucket with a wick going up to somewhere theres a lot of airflow ( the exhaust side of your inline fan)

I thought about what you said with your old lady not liking the window heater cause it dries out the place. i live somewhere quite cold and dry in the winter and bought this this season https://www.honeywellpluggedin.com/humidifiers/honeywell-top-fill-tower-humidifier-digital-humidistat-and-timer
it is simple and easy to use and makes a huge impact on humidity. just dont put this near your intake cause it could be too much humidity before mixing with the rest of the air. this will help your plants transpirate less making it so you dont have to water them as much and possibly leech out more nutrients

proper light-- look at the distance for your light. hps, fluorescent, and LEDs all have certain distances you want to start and end at. with LEDs especially, they are different depending on how it was designed. some are wide angles made to be closer and some are narrow made for further away. just check it out online what ur using to get a feel for how to hang ur lights.

proper soil- good soil will last you as a rule of thumb when the plant is growing vigorously, 1 gallon of soil=1 week of nutrients.
a one gallon pot will last a seedling about a month sometimes though so you need to take that into account for figuring how and when you want to add some nutrients. less is more!

the key for me being lazy, i go from clone or seed, into a 3 gallon pot, then into a 20 gallon pot. air pots say 20 gallons but are actually only 12-15 so alls im doing is buying myself time from having to add nutes, and also making it so i only have to water 1-2 times a week!

hope this helps bro!

So I bought a tiny ceramic heater for 10 bucks at Wally World and put it on the corner nearest the window. I got more ducting and “sealed” it with duct taped and double sided tape. They stretched the ducting up to the little heater, the pictures day everything


The lights are 12” away from the tops. I could spare an inch or two. I need to purchase a new light(s). The HLG65 is advertised as able to flower 1x1 section, but the other two UFO LED’s are like 50watt each(that’s how much they pull from the outlet, they’re advertised as like 100 or 150watt). My plan right now to collect pollen from one of the plants then cull it. I’ll then try and pull the lights closest to each other and flower two mainlined plants underneath three lights. Hopefully i’ll Have a new light, at the most, 2 weeks into flower. I don’t see myself flipping anytime soon. I’m topping my plants one more time, and then letting them grow out. Maybe a month i’ll flip it.

 

[DankTankerous]

Damn, everyone was a lot happier today, leaves and not dropping. They’re not praying yet, but at least they’re off their knees. Color is odd but we’ll get there.

 

[DankTankerous]

Hey y’all, things are going great! I’m seeing a slight lighter color on the Madcap #1, but I think that’s the way it’s supposed to look? I’m having some fungus gnat problems, but I have some B.T. And will be picking some worm castings up. I topped Madcap #2 and C99, they haven’t skipped a beat and this morning everyone is reaching for light. Thanks again y’all.

Here’s my thread if y’all want to follow, I’ll still update this too

https://www.rollitup.org/t/jinxproofs-madcap-qb-cob-stealth-organic-grow.976370/page-6

 

[Nizza]

that fan sitting right on top of the pots may also be drying them. id clip that up somewhere and point it downwards. the intake beneath the pots will give plenty of air down there, the circulation fan should oscillate just making those babies wiggle a little.

they look much happier!

 

[hawse]

Def looking better... good luck!

 

[DankTankerous]

that fan sitting right on top of the pots may also be drying them. id clip that up somewhere and point it downwards. the intake beneath the pots will give plenty of air down there, the circulation fan should oscillate just making those babies wiggle a little.

they look much happier!

So I have that fan off, I just don’t know where to put right now. I’m considering culling the male because I just don’t have room. I’m not having any problems with them drying too fast however. Every time I water the C99 it gives run off right away, it has yet to not give runoff so it got me suspicious. I checked the outside edges and it was dry, so it’s back in the plastic bag. I’m thinking about putting the other female Madcap #2 because the outside was crunchy too. After watering the humidity will get high like tops 80% and without that fan I really don’t want pm. After a few days it’ll settle down to like 29% which I’m guessing is another indicator that it’s dry... idk maybe the bag is making the plant transpire alot?

Other than that, they are still doing good and growing more and more each day. Hopefully I can get this moisture situation contained in the next 3 weeks, I’m hoping they will be y’all enough. I don’t think C99 will stretch too much, from what I understand it’s a short, squat, bushy plant... and so is Madcap

 

[DankTankerous]

Btw I’m wondering if my air filter fan is pulling too much air, it’s on the lowest setting and it’s a 4in Vortex 172 cfm. Vortex is the best and I have read that other fans don’t have a lot of torque? Or at least power to draw air through the carbon filter

 

[Nizza]

take the plants out, get in the tent and put your hand in front of the air intake and you will feel if its too much velocity it may be easiest just to adjust your fan speed by feel. you can buy a speedster fan controller for 20$ it works on brushed fan motors

 

[DankTankerous]

take the plants out, get in the tent and put your hand in front of the air intake and you will feel if its too much velocity it may be easiest just to adjust your fan speed by feel. you can buy a speedster fan controller for 20$ it works on brushed fan motors

I do have a fan controller, Active Air, and even on the lowest setting it does feel strong... but what do I know. I don’t think my plant had shown symptoms of having bad air flow. Dude that fan is so powerful I’m pretty sure it’s power warped my doors because they are sunken in. I used to have it on it’s highest setting.

 

[IIReignManII]

One of the main guys I go to for advice told me if you're having watering issues with it not hydrating evenly or having dry spots you can use those wooden shishkabob skewers and poke a few holes down into the soil before you water to get it into those potential areas it wasnt reaching before...havent tried this myself yet.