jojodancer10
Well-Known Member
thanks al enjoy your say and thankyou for everything 503 and were out
It's A Fuct World
- Thread starter Al B. Fuct
- Start date
Tiger Woods
Well-Known Member
Understood.
Thanks again
Thanks again
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Were I you, I'd get a water analysis from a county extension agency or a nearby university. TDS readings as high as yours could be caused by high salinity. Distillation/RO is a good option if you're stuck with well/bore water with excessive salinity (>500ppm).
Al, say I wanted to veg 4 plants for 2 months then put them into an ebb & flow system with netpots and hydroton. Do you have any idea/suggestions on how I can veg them? I planned to use a soiless mix but I just realized when I flower there would be no way to put them into the ebb & flow.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
You're going to wind up with HUGE plants if you veg for 8 weeks then flower. They'll wind up so tall that most of the bud mass will be well & truly out of the highest intensity pattern of HID lighting. Much of what you'll get will be small, fluffy buds with a lot of leaf. Do you have some particular reason for only growing 4 plants?
JohnnyGreenfingers
Well-Known Member
Al-
I've been a lurker of your threads for years. I've never posted on this or any other MJ forum, but seeing you back here again motivated me to get off my a$$ and make an account to say thanks. It would take pages to tell you how far I've been with the knowledge you gave me.
As it turned out, there actually was some truth to overthrowing by overgrowing, and it's legal for me to grow here now as long as I stay at 72 plants.
I've been tweaking your SOG into a perpetual tree of green to account for the lesser numbers allowed. It won't produce as efficiently as the sog obviously, but if the police knock on my door complaining of marijuana odor, I can simply show them a card and ask that they kindly gtfo.
I don't know what compelled you to invest the time and effort you've invested to educate pure strangers, but thank you sincerely for doing so.
Also, the only place I've been able to find non stabilised 35% h2o2 is a chain of organic grocery stores (isn't it ironic? don'tcha think?) called Foods For Living. It was the last place I looked. Anyone having trouble finding it can find it there. I've been unable to find a reliable source of 50%.
I've been a lurker of your threads for years. I've never posted on this or any other MJ forum, but seeing you back here again motivated me to get off my a$$ and make an account to say thanks. It would take pages to tell you how far I've been with the knowledge you gave me.
As it turned out, there actually was some truth to overthrowing by overgrowing, and it's legal for me to grow here now as long as I stay at 72 plants.
I've been tweaking your SOG into a perpetual tree of green to account for the lesser numbers allowed. It won't produce as efficiently as the sog obviously, but if the police knock on my door complaining of marijuana odor, I can simply show them a card and ask that they kindly gtfo.
I don't know what compelled you to invest the time and effort you've invested to educate pure strangers, but thank you sincerely for doing so.
Also, the only place I've been able to find non stabilised 35% h2o2 is a chain of organic grocery stores (isn't it ironic? don'tcha think?) called Foods For Living. It was the last place I looked. Anyone having trouble finding it can find it there. I've been unable to find a reliable source of 50%.
Yeah I was originally planning on growing 56 in a 4x4 but I only have a pair of 2ft 2 bulb ho T5's to veg with. So I cant get the 56 clones every 2 months and figured if I cant grow a bunch of small plants the next best thing is a few huge plants right? I can't figure it out so maybe you can help me out. Here's my setup -
4x4 room (+ 6" can fan & filter) with 4x4 ebb & flow (also have 64 netpots and 100l hydroton)
600w hps (probably upgrading to a 1k)
3x3 tent (with 6" can fan)
2 - 2ft 2 bulb high output T5's
I'm trying to yield 6lb/year which is why I originally wanted to harvest once every 2 months with a 1lb yield each time. What do you thing the best way of doing this is? I AM willing to buy more equipment if needed but I cant really go over 1200w with the lights.
4x4 room (+ 6" can fan & filter) with 4x4 ebb & flow (also have 64 netpots and 100l hydroton)
600w hps (probably upgrading to a 1k)
3x3 tent (with 6" can fan)
2 - 2ft 2 bulb high output T5's
I'm trying to yield 6lb/year which is why I originally wanted to harvest once every 2 months with a 1lb yield each time. What do you thing the best way of doing this is? I AM willing to buy more equipment if needed but I cant really go over 1200w with the lights.
Kaptain Kron
Well-Known Member
with all due respect al have you done a side by side comparison as i have i know my grow room conditions are good as i have pulled LARGE crops down with SOG off of my 400. I use a 2x3 table filled with hydroton generally pull at least an elbow to elbow and a half with my 400w and have matched that with the LED. You dont have to believe me, but no 400w is going to kick my led's ass to mars.
Im just sayin when was the last time you looked really hard at AMERICAN made LED's and the LATEST LED tech all the old chinese LED's are bullshit, bridglux blow me. Anything with CREE led's (american made) or kessil (american made with DICON fiber optics) in a small grow will beat out an hps if you compare them properly theres been many claims of 90w led ufo's being equiv to a 400w thats a crock. it takes a minimum of 200w to even be close to a 400. Im just trying to set the record straight, there is a place for LED's now its not right for everyone, it depends on the size of your grow honestly but if your doing it for personal or just a few people. LED's win out. Large scale it just doesnt scale up yet with the prices that people want for things. It's getting close though. 4x4 though no contest. its when you start moving up to where you would need a couple 1k hps is where i start questioning led's because they are so FUCKING expesive to cover the area you need for a couple 1ks.
I used to completely agree with you about LED's man then i got roped into buying one because of my current living situation which was changing in a couple monts and i had to solve the problem before i moved and well i did a lot of research and bought the reasonably priced panel that uses american components and is assembled in China. Im not sure how long it will last im still waiting to find that out (being as a chinese underpaid factory worker assembled it) but the performance is phenomenal because of the american LED's the companys that have panels that look identical to mine and perform identical to mine but charge 800 bucks are charging that cause they are assembled in the US and its ridiculous.
Take it with a grain of salt make your own decisions. Like i said though dont just jump in like a lot of people do because of the hype that has been given to LED's take your time do some research find one you think might work, and then get it if you can AFFORD to test it and decide if you like it better. I could afford to take the hit when i bought mine and im not sorry. But i didnt throw my 400 in the dumpster either. LED's arent for everyone but they can be VERY beneficial if they are right for your size grow and situation. I would not even be able to grow if i didnt have this LED panel right now, the amount of CFL's i was running was too much too, just like the 400. Now i am able to get my herb and still get a good pull when i shouldnt even be able to grow where im at.
Theres benefits is all im sayin
Im just sayin when was the last time you looked really hard at AMERICAN made LED's and the LATEST LED tech all the old chinese LED's are bullshit, bridglux blow me. Anything with CREE led's (american made) or kessil (american made with DICON fiber optics) in a small grow will beat out an hps if you compare them properly theres been many claims of 90w led ufo's being equiv to a 400w thats a crock. it takes a minimum of 200w to even be close to a 400. Im just trying to set the record straight, there is a place for LED's now its not right for everyone, it depends on the size of your grow honestly but if your doing it for personal or just a few people. LED's win out. Large scale it just doesnt scale up yet with the prices that people want for things. It's getting close though. 4x4 though no contest. its when you start moving up to where you would need a couple 1k hps is where i start questioning led's because they are so FUCKING expesive to cover the area you need for a couple 1ks.
I used to completely agree with you about LED's man then i got roped into buying one because of my current living situation which was changing in a couple monts and i had to solve the problem before i moved and well i did a lot of research and bought the reasonably priced panel that uses american components and is assembled in China. Im not sure how long it will last im still waiting to find that out (being as a chinese underpaid factory worker assembled it) but the performance is phenomenal because of the american LED's the companys that have panels that look identical to mine and perform identical to mine but charge 800 bucks are charging that cause they are assembled in the US and its ridiculous.
Take it with a grain of salt make your own decisions. Like i said though dont just jump in like a lot of people do because of the hype that has been given to LED's take your time do some research find one you think might work, and then get it if you can AFFORD to test it and decide if you like it better. I could afford to take the hit when i bought mine and im not sorry. But i didnt throw my 400 in the dumpster either. LED's arent for everyone but they can be VERY beneficial if they are right for your size grow and situation. I would not even be able to grow if i didnt have this LED panel right now, the amount of CFL's i was running was too much too, just like the 400. Now i am able to get my herb and still get a good pull when i shouldnt even be able to grow where im at.
Theres benefits is all im sayin
Thanks.
Yes, it'll both reduce pathogens and oxygenate the roots. Presuming you're doing a DWC? Water loses dissolved oxygen as it gets warmer, but H2O2 and an airstone will help.
.5ml/gal is way too little. For 29% H2O2, it should be about 7ml/gal, reapplied every 3-4 days.
With all due respect, you're mistaken. If you have all grow room conditions correct, a 400W HPS lighting an 8 sq ft area will kick any LED system's ass to Mars- and that's a lot of kicking.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Wow! Thanks.
Bewdy, you can do quite a lot with 72 plants.
Wish I could say the same. Anything over 5 plants in my locality is a 'large commercial quanitity' and could get me 20 years.
I blame the drugs.
35% will do as long as doesn't have any stabilisers added.
I'm really alarmed about 35% H2O2 being sold in 'health food' or 'organic' markets, undoubtedly because they're encouraging people to DRINK it. I've had my rant about the crazies that encourage human consumption of the stuff, but it's worth repeating: This is truly dangerous bullshit. See: http://www.solvaychemicals.us/static/wma/pdf/8/6/3/9/3051-HH208.pdf
Not really.
Let's start from the start. If you want to fill that 4x4 tray, you'll want a 1000. If you have a limit of 1200W (presuming a 10A ckt on 120V), you have a bit of a problem. A 1000HPS will draw about 1100-1150W from AC mains when running and a bit more on startup. A 1000 MAY trip a 10A ckt bkr on 120V. If you have a 15A ckt, your life gets a lot easier. If not, you're stuck to a 600HPS which will really only effectively light a 3x4' space. You won't be able to pack that 4x4 tray full.
What is the rating of the ckt bkr for the grow area? Any chance you can run a good heavy duty extension lead to an outlet on another ckt?
Once you tell me what you have to work with in terms of ckt power limitations, I'll give you an idea of how to best use your gear.
I don't have to believe you? Good, because I don't believe you.
Waste as much of your time as you like- but kindly stop wasting mine.
Well I have a 20A circuit the problem is that's the one circuit I have to use for everything in my grow rooms + a small window AC in the summer (no clue of the watts or btu but I figure 500w max, and an outdoor light which is 300w but I'm going to set my light scheduled so that outdoor light and my grow light will rarely go on at the same time. I guess I could run a few things like my fans to a different socket in the room which is on another breaker but the main reason I didn't want to go over 1k in the 4x4 is because of heat. Is a 1k ALOT hotter then a 600? I have an air cooled hood and a cool tube btw.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
I think you should get a better idea of that aircon unit's current draw- best thing you can do is buy a plug-in kWh meter, something like this one. Betting you can find them more cheaply than listed, at general electronics stores. Most devices like this will measure both peak and continuous power consumption. If you can swap that 300W outdoor light for a compact fluoro, so much the better, but I realise that mightn't be possible if it's a big floodlamp for lighting a large area.
You say heat is a concern. You'll want to be able to run your grow op lighting at night when the air you have to draw in for cooling is cool as possible. I don't know what sort of a room you're planning to use for your op, but to be useful, the cooltube will need to draw air from outside the grow room airmass and dump it outside of that airmass as well. The ventilation for the op should vent to outside the op as well. If you're using a spare bedroom, dumping warm air into the attic is a good way to go. Putting ballasts in the attic is also a smart move.
A 1000 will make appreciably more heat than a 600, but a 600 makes a significant amount of heat all by itself. You're going to have to work out how to get the heat out of the room, whether using a 600 or a 1000. If you organise a cooltube which sources & dumps air from outside the room, it's no problem using either one.
Are you SURE that the other outlets in the room are on a separate ckt? It'd be rather unusual if it is.
You say you have an air-cooled hood and a cooltube. These do the same job. Some air-cooled hoods source their intake air from the grow room airmass, with no facility to connect an intake air duct. Cooltubes allow you to attach flexiduct to both ends, so you can source air from outside the grow room airmass and dump it outside as well. This is a far preferable arrangement as it allows the room ventilation (intake & exhaust fans) to be thermostatically controlled.
To make full use of your 4x4 tray, you will want a 1000 over it.
The actual genesis of the idea for my 'every 2 weeks' system was to break up the harvesting job. Very early on in the piece, I was filling my entire op, 4 trays x 24 plants each (yep, 96 plants) all at once and harvesting the lot after 8 wks of flowering. I had a hard time coming up with 96 clones all at one time and harvesting time was a BITCH because it all had to be done at once. So, I started staggering the feed of clones into the op and was then able to harvest one of my 4 trays at a time. Much more manageable on all accounts. Didn't have to have as many clones ready all at once, either.
You will get much better yields from SoG than you will from individual large plants- AND you'll be able to break up the harvesting job as well as grow fewer mother plants and produce fewer clones per batch. You can stagger the introduction of new clones into your flowering area so that you only fill 1/4 of the capacity of the 4x4 tray at a time. This means that you'll only need 12-16 clones every 2 weeks.
However, to grow mother plants quickly enough to get even that few clones for you every 2 weeks, you'll want an HID lamp of some flavour running the mums. A 250HPS is a good choice for up to 5 mums. A 175W MH would probably do OK. I am quite confident that fluoros won't cut it, not even T5HO fluoros. The luminous output just isn't there to produce the thick stems you'll want and recover the mums from being cut back hard every 2 weeks. Fluoros are OK over clones because they're not really being actively grown- rather, merely being convinced that it's daylight for 18h, or preferably, 24h/day to keep them in veg state until they're ready to go into flowering.
Cannabis plants in veg mode don't flip over to flowering mode overnight just because they've been chucked under 12/12 lighting. It takes about 3-4 weeks under 12/12 for them to shift fully into flowering state. This is actually one of the secrets to why SoG works the way it does. Clones which are only 6-9" tall when they've set root will grow in a tapering veg mode under 12/12 lighting, eventually reaching their final stature at about 36-40" tall by week 4. This is ideal for artificial lighting; the major bud mass of all the (hopefully uniform) short plants forms in the maximum light intensity of the HPS light. SoG tailors plants to the limitations of artificial lighting.
When you veg before flowering, you get a tall plant that has a lot of the bud mass down low and out on lower branches (which you prune off in SoG). The tall plants will force you to raise the light to avoid cooking the top colas. Buds that are outside of the maximum intensity zone of the pattern will be fluffy & leafy- a pain to manicure and very little yield for a lot of trimming work. Best to simply not grow the little stuff. Pruning off the branching also dramatically improves circ fan airflow around the plants, greatly reducing the possibility of mould.
With SoG, you get a bunch of single stalks with a large top cola and nothing else. The plants require very little lighted space for each plant, maximising the use of the lighted space and thus yield per sq ft. Breaking up the workflow into 1/4 of the flowering area's capacity per batch will make your per-harvest workload much lower, though you will be harvesting more often.
Give this a think and restructure your plans to suit your grow op's physical situation.
zem
Well-Known Member
same old nonsense... if you're claiming that a multi hundred dollar light is goin to beat HPS we need proof, real proof not just clams. boy how many times have i waited for side by side grows they never get to a conclusion, grower would usually evaporate experiment halts and life goes on. bottom line, LED's are not the way forward, maybe some other tech in the future but sure not LED. and man they have been on our vcr and xmas trees for decades, not that new really.
Didn't want to quote the full message and take up a whole page lol
Wow, alot of info! Thanks! Yeah my air cooled hood has duct ports on bot sides as well. I got that after I did a grow with the cool tube because the cool tube (with outside & inside reflectors) wasn't giving me the coverage I wanted. I figure I could use that for the mother room if I get HID lighting. I plan to vent out my window and intake from a different window.
As far as that one plug being on it's own breaker it's because it used to have a huge air conditioner on it + the outside light was a big metal halide so the electrician put it on it's own.
So your saying I can take 14 cuttings put them into flowering then 2 weeks later take 14 more and so on until I have 56 plants, and I can put them right next to the others? I keep my light about 18" from the canopy so say I can keep my plants total height at 18" when done stretching. Won't the new 14 clones be too far away from the light since they'll be 36" away?
Thanks again for all the help! Wish I could send you part of my harvest or something!
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Yeah. All that. I DO believe that high intensity LED technology will eventually come along that will make growing plants with them a functional possibility, but the limitation right now is the thermal dissipation of the LED semiconductor junction into the substrate. Serious LEDs like Luxeons have to be on a big fuckin' heatsink even now to avoid cooking the junctions and still don't develop the luminous intensity necessary to grow cannabis. Fluoros are a better bet at the moment and even the highest-output fluoros are not up to the task of flowering cannabis.
It sorta works like this: anyone claiming that LEDs outperform HPS lighting almost certainly didn't have a room setup suiting removing the heat generated by HPS lighting. They got a crappy result from HPS because the room was running at 37-40C, reckoned that was the normal result from HPS, so they chucked the HPS & got an LED panel that makes 1/10 the light as HPS. Naturally, it did somewhat better because the plants weren't getting totally cooked, but the result was still shitty, wispy buds as you'd expect from insufficient light.
*sigh*
LED EVANGELISTS: Last time- don't try on the 'LEDs are better than HPS' garbage with me. I know better, mkay?
Heh, sorry... I got a bit windy on that one, but I had a lot to say! If you plan a grow op correctly from the start, you won't fumble through months or years of trying to make a bad setup work correctly.
Oh, OK. Good deal. That sounds pretty good.
Makes sense. Good for your op plans, tho! Lucky you.
Yup.
Your cooltube/air cooled hood will allow you to place the lamp a lot closer to the maturing tops than without it. Cooltubes are fantastic for reducing the radiant IR. You can put the maturing tops 6-8" away from a 1000 in a cooltube. The height mismatch isn't that big of a deal; the little 'uns will catch on & catch up within a couple of weeks.
No wucking furries. The way you can pay me back is to get proficient and help other people navigate the learning curve. I've only got so much time to put into commenting on cannabis boards and I'm probably going to have to bail out on RIU again, likely sooner than later.
lowerarchy
Active Member
Hey Al, just another grateful reader here. Would that we had more like you.
Couple questions:
Did you get a noticeable improvement in yield from the fytocell vs rw?
Don't you get bored doing the same technique all the time? I realize there's a certain satisfaction in striving for perfection, but there's also that irresistible pull to experiment especially when you've got two potential opportunities for experiment/control in your flowering room all the time. It's obvious that you're extremely adept at what you do, so you'd probably have a good idea of what effect any changes you've made are actually having, unlike many of us who have problems doing the same thing twice in a row, let alone crop after crop for years.
On that note, what's your limiting factor right now? co2?
Any experiments or speculations on the table right now?
Couple questions:
Did you get a noticeable improvement in yield from the fytocell vs rw?
Don't you get bored doing the same technique all the time? I realize there's a certain satisfaction in striving for perfection, but there's also that irresistible pull to experiment especially when you've got two potential opportunities for experiment/control in your flowering room all the time. It's obvious that you're extremely adept at what you do, so you'd probably have a good idea of what effect any changes you've made are actually having, unlike many of us who have problems doing the same thing twice in a row, let alone crop after crop for years.
On that note, what's your limiting factor right now? co2?
Any experiments or speculations on the table right now?
Ok so let me make sure I have this right. Using a 1k in the 4x4 and a 250w mh or hps in the 3x3 take 14 clones, root them then flower them. Do this every 2 weeks and after 1 month I will be harvesting every 2 weeks assuming I'm growing an 8 week strain. Is this correct?Yeah. All that. I DO believe that high intensity LED technology will eventually come along that will make growing plants with them a functional possibility, but the limitation right now is the thermal dissipation of the LED semiconductor junction into the substrate. Serious LEDs like Luxeons have to be on a big fuckin' heatsink even now to avoid cooking the junctions and still don't develop the luminous intensity necessary to grow cannabis. Fluoros are a better bet at the moment and even the highest-output fluoros are not up to the task of flowering cannabis.
It sorta works like this: anyone claiming that LEDs outperform HPS lighting almost certainly didn't have a room setup suiting removing the heat generated by HPS lighting. They got a crappy result from HPS because the room was running at 37-40C, reckoned that was the normal result from HPS, so they chucked the HPS & got an LED panel that makes 1/10 the light as HPS. Naturally, it did somewhat better because the plants weren't getting totally cooked, but the result was still shitty, wispy buds as you'd expect from insufficient light.
*sigh*
LED EVANGELISTS: Last time- don't try on the 'LEDs are better than HPS' garbage with me. I know better, mkay?
Heh, sorry... I got a bit windy on that one, but I had a lot to say! If you plan a grow op correctly from the start, you won't fumble through months or years of trying to make a bad setup work correctly.
Oh, OK. Good deal. That sounds pretty good.
Makes sense. Good for your op plans, tho! Lucky you.
Yup.
Your cooltube/air cooled hood will allow you to place the lamp a lot closer to the maturing tops than without it. Cooltubes are fantastic for reducing the radiant IR. You can put the maturing tops 6-8" away from a 1000 in a cooltube. The height mismatch isn't that big of a deal; the little 'uns will catch on & catch up within a couple of weeks.
No wucking furries. The way you can pay me back is to get proficient and help other people navigate the learning curve. I've only got so much time to put into commenting on cannabis boards and I'm probably going to have to bail out on RIU again, likely sooner than later.
Since I'm doing ebb & flow how do I deal with different nutrient strengths for the different stages of growth? Is there a set ppm you recommend or does it depend? All I'm using is AN Sensi bloom + hygrozyme if that matters.
Also since I'm doing ebb & flow with net pots and hydroton how do you recommend getting/cleaning the roots out after I harvest the 14 plants since if I still have 43 flowering I can't just wash the whole tray out or anything and I'm assuming all the roots will be tangled.
Sorry for all the questions just trying to get all the info I can and think of everything I'm going to run into
.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Keep paying attention and we WILL have more like me- such as you.
Definitely. RW floc is highly absorbent, so you can't water often without causing root problems. It tends to hold more water than my biggest flowering plants in 175mmx175mm pots could use in 24h. Using smaller pots can be problematic later down the track- plants tend to fall over as the buds get heavier... sooo... I looked for a less absorbent medium. Fytocell was new at the time, so I gave it a go. It has its problems but one thing's certain- you can't overwater a plant in the stuff. Doesn't matter how much water a plant is using at various stages of development; I can water all plants in the op for 3 mins/day and not overwater anything.
Not at all. I grow dope to get dope, not for the entertainment of growing dope. It's actually a bit of work and I get tired of it, occasionally neglect the op. I have warned RIU that I'm a stoned slacker many, many times. A lot of what happens in my op is directly attributable to me not wanting to work very hard. One example- I use flood trays instead of aeroponics because I don't want to have to clean sprayers every goddamn day. Flood systems require somewhere between no and zero maintenance. They're no-brainer reliable for the most part unless a timer or a pump shits itself. I've just invested about $130 in an industrial quality, German digital timer which is guaranteed not to fuck up... so I'm soon going to replace the 4 independent (consumer grade) timers in my flowering room, eliminating a failure point. Automation is fine, but it has to be dead-nuts reliable. Having to look in on an automated system means it's not automated. You may as well be there to flip the switches yourself.
Well, thanks for the compliment, but I'm using my familiarity to reduce workload more than increase yields or achieve some state-of-the-art in dope growing. I get more than enough weed out of the op even with decidedly suboptimal (yet more reliable, lower maintenance) methods. I could make it do a lot more if I worked harder at it. But I'm frankly getting a bit on in the years (think 50-something) and I can't/don't want to.
Nope. Lack of hard work put into the op.
Maybe a nap and a nice coffee & cone when I wake up.
Al B. Fuct
once had a dog named
Yeppers.
Ditch the hygrozyme. Deal with pathogens using H2O2. Use 50% grade at 1ml/L every 3-4 days. Run the single tank at 1000. The younguns don't really need ramping up and the mature ones don't really need flushing.
Netpots will air-prune the roots so they don't fill the tray. There will be no media in the tray for roots to grow into, so there ought not to be any root matting or knitting. If roots escape the netpots, clip 'em off.
No problem. I'm here for a few days only, so get 'em in while you can!Sorry for all the questions just trying to get all the info I can and think of everything I'm going to run into
Cool so I'll use H202 instead of the Hygrozyme. Is there any specific reason for that? Just wondering out of curiosity since I don't really know 100% what hygrozyme does. Would it be beneficial to use both together?
So your saying run netpots with hydroton in them and don't put anything at all in the tray? Thats whole lot easier! and less hydroton I'll need! lol
2 questions with that though. My pots are 6" in diameter and 4.5" tall, are those big enough? If not what size will work best? Also do I have this right - fill pot with hydroton then stick rockwool in and cover it completely with a 1-2" layer of hydroton then flood my table so the water JUST touches the bottom of the rockwool? If that's right then i will only be able to flood my table 1-2" assuming I'm using 1.5" rockwool cubes. Can you explain this to me if I'm not understanding it correctly?
Last thing I can think of right now - When you say 1000ppm... My tap water is 133 so does that mean run 1133 or 867? I assume I'd use 1133 but want to be positive.
Good thing I saw this thread, I like this plan you gave me 100% more then the other 2 I had before! Seems alot easier and the possibility for higher yields.
lowerarchy
Active Member
Automation seems hard, probably because it actually is hard. I was looking into building an arduino-controlled pH doser but when I realized how much time I'd have to spend learning the language, finding the actuators and sensors and stuff, learning how to build it, building it, testing and all that I realized I'd be better off just going into the room every now and then.
Good to hear. That's a good school of thought and one that I'm trying to follow myself. I don't really see the point of getting a massive yield on a gram per watt basis if it takes thousands of dollars worth of equipment, is like working two full-time jobs and takes and extra six months of setup and veg to pull off. Work with the equipment you have, learn the capabilities of your genetics and everything works out well in the long run.
There's a trend in the hobby growing community to buy whatever the fuck comes out in hopes of making astounding personal breakthroughs in growing expertise. I was in my local hydro shop and saw a dozen magnetic ballasts on the used rack for fifty bucks, asked "what's wrong with them?" and the guy just sighed and said "they're from a customer who just learned about digital ballasts." I guess we're easy prey for salesmen because this hobby may lead to a bit of disposable income for some, and what better than to "re-invest" back into the source?
One more question. Did you ever experiment with staggered lighting? Thread about it:
https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/376157-staggered-lighting-anyone-tried.html