Harvest a Pound Every Three Weeks!

[DIRTHAWKER]

Thanks dragon, i will keep that in mind if i decide to run some new lines. For now im gonna just run extension cords from the other end of the house and see how it works out.

Stink, i had a thought, does the potentcy of the harvest rely much on how well you keep your nutes at the right ppm?

My ppms usually drop to around 1700 after a couple days. I add more to bring it back up to 2000. It doesnt take much.
They drink tons of water too, like 5-6 gallons every few days.

It seems like beacuse im adding fresh water and nutes all the time that you wouldnt need to change the reservoir?

Is it totaly necessary to change the res and clean etc every 3 weeks?

Also, how exactly do you do your cleaning/res change schedule?

3 weeks then clean, 3 more weeks then clean again would put you at 6 weeks with one week left before you flush.

it seems like the last res change would kinda be a waste of good nutes beacuse in one more week it will be flush time? or do ya dont change the res the last time and leave until flush time?

anyhow...its almost 5am and im starting to ramble...

This is one of those questions that i will probably feel stupid for asking in the morning...lol

 

[flabbyone]

I know it's really easy to connect the wires and everything, but isn't there still a limit to how much power you can use? If you have too many things on one breaker, how do you add another breaker to get more power?

Take a look at your breaker box. Do you have fuses or breakers? Most houses will have breakers now so I will procede like you have breakers.

It will take one breaker for a 120 volt system or two breakers for a 240 volt system. Is there room in your box for the amount of breakers you need? If so, shut off the power, take off the metal front pannel, remove a piece of metal, one for each breaker, pop in the breaker. Then, hook up the wires as described above.

Do NOT use ext cords to run those lights! You will over heat them and could cause a fire. If you use very heavy duty industrial extention cords, you can get by, but those are more expensive then putting in the electricity. I have also made extention cords from inside house wiring to run my welder in remote area's away from the garage.

Good Luck,
Flabs

 

[DIRTHAWKER]

Take a look at your breaker box. Do you have fuses or breakers? Most houses will have breakers now so I will procede like you have breakers.

It will take one breaker for a 120 volt system or two breakers for a 240 volt system. Is there room in your box for the amount of breakers you need? If so, shut off the power, take off the metal front pannel, remove a piece of metal, one for each breaker, pop in the breaker. Then, hook up the wires as described above.

Do NOT use ext cords to run those lights! You will over heat them and could cause a fire. If you use very heavy duty industrial extention cords, you can get by, but those are more expensive then putting in the electricity. I have also made extention cords from inside house wiring to run my welder in remote area's away from the garage.

Good Luck,
Flabs

BREAKER BOX WITH BREAKERS check
AVAILABLE SLOTS check
80FT to room from box ????? conduit? electrical wire?

 

[DragonPhoenix]

BREAKER BOX WITH BREAKERS check
AVAILABLE SLOTS check
80FT to room from box ????? conduit? electrical wire?

The wire comes in huge spools. It might not be on an actual spool but you can easily buy it in prepackaged lenghts of like 25, 50, 100, or prolly even more feet. I really would not bother with conduit but that's up to you. It's just a hollow metal pipe that you put the wire in but it's gonna complicate the shit out of everything pretty much. All the wire you run should have the plastic sheathing on it and then there are the 3 wires (or you can get the kind with 2) inside. It really is very simple. The hardest part is going to be to run (or fish) the wire through to where you want to get it - i.e. through walls, etc.

I can't emphasize how easy it actually is. It's like everything else in life - when you don't know anything about the subject it seems so complicated - just like growing but when you actually get into it and think about things it's pretty simple. Well growing might not be a good analogy but I think you get the point.

 

[DragonPhoenix]

I know it's really easy to connect the wires and everything, but isn't there still a limit to how much power you can use? If you have too many things on one breaker, how do you add another breaker to get more power?

Yeah you want to add breakers if you are running wires to your grow area. I live in the US and remember I'm not a licensed electrician or anything but the breakers come in different amperages. 15amp or 20amp are pretty standard so you just wanna see how many amps your fixtures are drawing. Add em up and you don't really want to go over about 75% of what the breaker is. For example if you have a 20 amp breaker you put in to your box don't put over 15amps of load on the circuit.
There are a bunch of different brands of breaker boxes so when choosing your breaker you need to make sure you get the same brand breaker as your breaker box because different companies make different sizes etc. The local Home Depot I'm sure can explain in person if you have any questions. It really is very simple...

DP

 

[DIRTHAWKER]

Is it safe to run the wire outdoors without conduit?

 

[human8]

my Art Dne timer decided it would stop working in the middle of the night. My luck. Lost half my cuts, are there any more reliable cycle timers than this fudgy little thing?

 

[Damios]

my Art Dne timer decided it would stop working in the middle of the night. My luck. Lost half my cuts, are there any more reliable cycle timers than this fudgy little thing?

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=TIIGS011&eq=&Tp=

I have two of them, they work great.

 

[westmich]

Is it safe to run the wire outdoors without conduit?

Not a good idea. You would want to run it in conduit or run a line that is designed to be buried. Bury it below the frost line depending on where you live.

 

[stofmonster]

Quick Question I know stink said his roots got dark from the organic nutes I seen pics from the flower unit but mine have some dark roots in my veg unit. My res has went over 22degrees C some I know but how can I tell the difference beween discolor from nutes and root rot? any help is appreciated

This system is awsome just a week into my first veg with it but am very happy more pics soon

 

[Damios]

Quick Question I know stink said his roots got dark from the organic nutes I seen pics from the flower unit but mine have some dark roots in my veg unit. My res has went over 22degrees C some I know but how can I tell the difference beween discolor from nutes and root rot? any help is appreciated

This system is awsome just a week into my first veg with it but am very happy more pics soon

One of the first indicators of root rot is browning of the root tips (the newest 1-2 inches of growth on the roots) as well as the tips starting to look withered or almost soggy. The root mass can be brown from nutrients as long as the inner part of the root is still growing along with the tips at the end of the roots. Normal roots should be quite tuff, while roots with root rot will fall apart like mush. Hope this helps, and I hope you don't have root rot lol.

 

[iBLaZe4tozErO]

pixs
1st of my cloner unit from 11-22
2nd from today
3rd roots just starting
4th the plant the clones came from(now 3rd week into flowering )
thanks stink

 

[iBLaZe4tozErO]

Quick Question I know stink said his roots got dark from the organic nutes I seen pics from the flower unit but mine have some dark roots in my veg unit. My res has went over 22degrees C some I know but how can I tell the difference beween discolor from nutes and root rot? any help is appreciated

This system is awsome just a week into my first veg with it but am very happy more pics soon

use hygozime (??spelling)

 

[stofmonster]

One of the first indicators of root rot is browning of the root tips (the newest 1-2 inches of growth on the roots) as well as the tips starting to look withered or almost soggy. The root mass can be brown from nutrients as long as the inner part of the root is still growing along with the tips at the end of the roots. Normal roots should be quite tuff, while roots with root rot will fall apart like mush. Hope this helps, and I hope you don't have root rot lol.

Thanks that helps alot the tips are white as can be and I pulled some apart where brown and they were still strong. I'm just paranoid wonder why???

 

[Damios]

I just put 20 plants into my flowering room a few days ago, here's the journal for most of the veg: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/124697-third-grow-skywalker-og-powerskunk-5.html#post1649271 I cloned and vegged them using aeroponics.

In the flowering room I'm running two 1000w lights w/ Sun system cooled reflectors used with a 454cfm fan. The plants are in a 20 site aero system, just about the same as Stinkbuds cause that's where I got the design, I just made it a little bigger and added a filter. I run the sprayers with a cycle timer for 1 minute on and 5 minutes off just like him. I am using a 20lb Co2 tank set to 4 times on a day only during the light cycle for 15 minutes each at 1cfm flow rate. For cooling I use a 800 watt portable air conditioner and run the ducting out the door. The Co2 really is amazing like Stinkbud has said, my plants are much more dark green, not stretching nearly as much, and they are able to take more nutrients up too. Overall I just wanted to post this to say thank you to Stinkbud for the positive influence.

Thanks again.

 

[StinkBud]

Thanks dragon, i will keep that in mind if i decide to run some new lines. For now im gonna just run extension cords from the other end of the house and see how it works out.

Stink, i had a thought, does the potentcy of the harvest rely much on how well you keep your nutes at the right ppm?

My ppms usually drop to around 1700 after a couple days. I add more to bring it back up to 2000. It doesnt take much.
They drink tons of water too, like 5-6 gallons every few days.

It seems like beacuse im adding fresh water and nutes all the time that you wouldnt need to change the reservoir?

Is it totaly necessary to change the res and clean etc every 3 weeks?

Botanicare recommends changing the res every week.

Also, how exactly do you do your cleaning/res change schedule?

3 weeks then clean, 3 more weeks then clean again would put you at 6 weeks with one week left before you flush.

it seems like the last res change would kinda be a waste of good nutes beacuse in one more week it will be flush time? or do ya dont change the res the last time and leave until flush time?

anyhow...its almost 5am and im starting to ramble...

This is one of those questions that i will probably feel stupid for asking in the morning...lol

3 weeks is actually a long time between changes.

Every three weeks I drain the res., refill it, add nutes and I'm done. I only clean the flowering system after harvest. The cloner pretty much stays clean. The veg unit and cloner is changed every three weeks.

The reason you change the nutes is to keep the nutrient ratio correct. The plants my be using more P than K. The meter can't tell the difference between the two. All you're measuring is conductive salts.

So changing the res helps keep the nutes in the proper ratio to each other.

Potency is 100% genetics. All we can hope to do is give the plants every thing they need to reach thier maximum potental.

The plants decide the PPM. If you are running one strain you can dial it in. My Snowbud can handle 2900+ PPM no problem. Some plants get tip burn at 1700.

I look for is a couple of things.
1) The color. Plants should be a nice shade of green not too dark or yellow. Don't look at the color under the HPS lights. Your color perseption will be off. Use a flashlight during the night.
2) The feel. Leaves will start curling and turn brittle if your nutes are too hot.
3) Tip burn. It's a good indication that you are close to maxed out.

It takes a couple of crops to dial in a strain. Basically it's a trial and error process. I pick an average 2000 PPM because with 10 strains I can't please everyone. I'm like a pot politician.

I prefer to run on the hot side with my nutes. Since I always leach and flush for two weeks I can get away with it.

 

[StinkBud]

Quick Question I know stink said his roots got dark from the organic nutes I seen pics from the flower unit but mine have some dark roots in my veg unit. My res has went over 22degrees C some I know but how can I tell the difference beween discolor from nutes and root rot? any help is appreciated

This system is awsome just a week into my first veg with it but am very happy more pics soon

The cloner will be the only unit with white roots. If you are running any nutes at all the roots will turn brown.

If you follow my directions exactly, root rot is a thing of the past.

I know this sounds silly but you can smell the funk from root rot. You will know it when you smell it....like bad pussy.

 

[StinkBud]

use hygozime (??spelling)

HygroZyme is used as a quick fix for a symptom. For example, suppose your water is too warm and you start to get some funky stuff growing. The Hygrozyme will fix the funk but won't solve the problem with the water temp.

If your water is too warm that must mean that your room is too hot. Ventilation or A/C will keep your room at the right temp. Now the water stays cool and no more funk. So it's best to solve the problem instead of fixing the symptoms.

Does that make sense?

 

[StinkBud]

I just put 20 plants into my flowering room a few days ago, here's the journal for most of the veg: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/124697-third-grow-skywalker-og-powerskunk-5.html#post1649271 I cloned and vegged them using aeroponics.

In the flowering room I'm running two 1000w lights w/ Sun system cooled reflectors used with a 454cfm fan. The plants are in a 20 site aero system, just about the same as Stinkbuds cause that's where I got the design, I just made it a little bigger and added a filter. I run the sprayers with a cycle timer for 1 minute on and 5 minutes off just like him. I am using a 20lb Co2 tank set to 4 times on a day only during the light cycle for 15 minutes each at 1cfm flow rate. For cooling I use a 800 watt portable air conditioner and run the ducting out the door. The Co2 really is amazing like Stinkbud has said, my plants are much more dark green, not stretching nearly as much, and they are able to take more nutrients up too. Overall I just wanted to post this to say thank you to Stinkbud for the positive influence.

Funkin aye Damios, that looks sweet! Your stoked! Your system looks perfect. I can hardly wait to see all that dank bud.

The filter is a good idea. I liked the way you plumbed it. Nice solution. I would have no problem recommending this to others. Your sprayers will never plug up now.

When you first put in your nutes the filter will clog up fast. It will clog up enough that the water won't flow. It happened to me on my first Aero system. You have to clean it often for the first day or so. After that once a week is fine.

Also unplug your pump when you clean it. Don't ask me how I know this.

You are going to wish you had added a ball valve and garden hose adapter the first res change. It makes res changes so much easier.

 

[funvsresponsibility]

Okay, so - your system looks amazing, and actually quite straightforward (even do-able for someone like me.) In fact, after reading your article (I got to page 10, and got most of the info) I decided to ditch the AeroGarden plan I had and just start gathering the supplies to make your set-up.

However, I am pretty damned close to retarded when it comes to anything technical and mechanical, and I kinda wanted to avoid any disasters/fires/failures. I know you may have pointed out some of the questions I'm about to ask earlier, but it may not have been obvious (I know right, what do you have to do??) or it may have been somewhere in the 117 pages I didn't get to, so...

1) as I know absolutely nothing about lights, what brand (if you don't mind telling) MH lights do you use? and I read that you use them in the veg room, but when I was searching for lights, the MH's were all in the yellow-orange spectrum, which (I could easily be wrong) I thought induced flowering. I thought you wanted blue-green for veg growth, like the HO fls.?

So long story short, brand name and bulb type?

2) about the HPS, same thing - brand name? (just want to stick with your muchly wanted and beautiful success - you are a genius of your time)

3) Any particular site (when you do buy from online) that you use? I know you said you like to support your local stores, but unfortunately I live in hickville hickstown America, and they dont have much except a walmart... have to go to the next town to get any hardware supplies. (HAHA)

Much thanks, and sorry for the troubles!!

edit: I think what I was trying to ask is what temp. bulbs? 5500K, 6500K, 10,000K, or 20,000K??

Thanks again StinkBud.