Hey Al, awesome to have a pro to bounce stuff off of, thanks man! I was wondering the negative effects of a low Relative humidity, other than the plant consuming more water.
Low RH will indeed cause higher transpiration- not a real problem. However, if you're unfortunate enough to get some spider mites, low RH will increase their reproduction rate significantly.
I am running a 2L Hempy SoG system filling the reservoir once a day in flower. From where the hempy hole is located, I'd estimate the reservoir at ~500mL for each plant. They seem to be doing great at 3 weeks into flower but I am wondering if a low RH would have negative impacts, because I am exchanging air rapidly with ~350CFM in a ~60 cubic foot flower chamber. It is attached to a 600w HPS in a cooltube.
Should be OK in general, but I do have problems with the Hempy concept. Allows roots to sit in stagnant water, which can (and almost surely will) cause problems.
The only problem I have so far is that one clone (different strain than the rest) has one fan near the top that is all wilted down but it is still green and uncracked. Feels rather dry to the touch. Just want to try to head off any problems before they start. I am getting a hygrometer in a couple days, I've had several successful harvests without one, but want to improve.
If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Getting as much diagnostic equipment in your op as possible is always worth doing.
dam man chill AL b the man and his methods are sound no reason to continue this just move on!!
That troll is now on my ignore list, I really don't care what it says- because I don't see it.
...but dipping stems in hot water is DEFINITELY going to be some future Stoney McDoper material.
yeah it's been more than a few years of growing for me, like 7-8... i don't mind work to setup, but i do mind maintenance work, that's why i want to run a single pump in vertial poles. the drippers are no problem, aero sprayers are more of a trouble. vertical can be done with low maintenance, but it is harder to setup initially. i plan on having 4 plastic pipes standing like poles with plants growing out of them and a light hanging in the middle drippers on top of pipes. maintenance would be the same as maintaining a regular system, just empty the pipes, clean refill and grow on. i have always asked myself why the hell would someone top feed when flood/drain is simpler to setup and airs better the roots, until this plan came up. if i wanted to flood/drain a vertical system i will have to add several pumps each for a level of plants, which i don't want to do. i'm leaning more to think that the difference in plant growth rate between top feeding and flood/drain is negligible... just unsure yet.....
I don't think the growth rate will be much different, but I have my worries about maintaining the system. If you have the floorspace to run a simple flood tray system, I'd do it that way.
Al your "ego" is deserved and well respected. I've learned more from you than anyone in many years. thanks again. If your only questionable method is to squeeze or not to squeeze, in all the wealth of info you supply us big fuggin deal... You spend all that time reading and replying with great answers im sure your just tired of the bull shiz. Agree to disagree and remain humble, no need to bash on a legend. Were not rippin through there sticky.
When someone loses an argument with me, it's typical for them to attack me instead of the facts. Going
ad hominem is simple proof that the crank can't win the dispute with knowledge. Trolls can use whatever incorrect practises they like; just as long as everyone else knows not to replicate the error, which appears to be the case here.
Squeezing rockwool cubes is bad practise every single time. It removes airspaces from the material and will contribute to poor/slow rooting performance, if not outright failure.
hey skunk i'm not Al's advocate here, but i gota say, YES, squeezing rockwool damages root growth because you're basically squeezing the air out of the cube making it less airy. it's NOT a matter of opinion, and in fact i can see why Al can sound a bit defensive when he hears someone insist on this bullshit
I don't mind helping out inexperienced growers after they've made a mistake. However, someone who
claims to have experience growing should know better. It's always obvious to me when someone who claims to have 15 years experience growing has more like 15 minutes. If someone wants to use poor practises and call my advice on doing it the right way some sort of ego trip, you must realise that it's no skin off my nose. The person paying for using incorrect practises is the person getting the shithouse results, not me.
But Al, look at skunkd0c's avatar, what would u do to have an amazing looking plant like that in your garden. LoL.
Anyhow, skunk you really have no room to talk here like this, this thread is from a very knowledgeable experienced gardener sharing his "secrets" with us, really no reason to talk shit here, take what you want from it, rep him and thank him for the help and discard anything you do no believe in, not keep asking him "do you still think squeezing rockwool damages plants, ?
do you still think 1 inch cubes are not for cuttings. ?" He did not say that squeezing the rockwool damages the plant, he said it damages the ROCKWOOL, and if he did squeeze it he wouldn't have rooted clones in 6 days. He said he does not use the 1 inch (25 mm) for cuttings, because his cuttings are so big he will break a 25mm cube.
If you really want to compare your grow to Al's you really need to have pictures and proof that you can even compare to being on the same level as him. And at that point you will only at best be compared to Al, there is no one more respected/trusted on this site period.
Al was decent enough to come back after a long absence just to answer our questions, so please do not fuck this up for us, as we would like to tap this resource as long as possible, as he has good theory with reasons to back everything up.
His ego as mentioned once before is well deserved, and he is allowed to flaunt it when he wants/needs to.
Finally you say that he is a child, but if you really read this thread, then your stupid .02 most of us would have been pretty pissed off at you, in fact me and my wife sat here and laughed through not only your stupid post, but Al's response.
Al has posted more in this one thread then you have at all, so based simply on that, i am going to continue to take all from this i can, and make it a point to ignore ALL skunkd0c posts.
Yeah. All that.
Zem, setting up a vertical system is certainly more complex than a simple E&F setup, but it's not THAT much harder (but with any new endeavor, some planning is a REALLY good idea) - as you've said correctly, yes, there's lots more initial setup, but I only check on my plants two or three times a week, so that means automating everything I can.
Had some downtime so actually converted my octagon from LP aero/NFT to full on HP aero (100-125PSI) for shits and giggles.
Al, good to see you back and I hope everything is okay with the situation you had to deal with a couple of weeks ago.
View attachment 1467110View attachment 1467109View attachment 1467108View attachment 1467107View attachment 1467106View attachment 1467105
I don't have any fundamental opposition to novel growing methods like this. They'll certainly work. I rather like the vertical scheme as regards the absence of a reflector, since you lose light intensity by bouncing light off of one. However, I DO have a fundamental opposition to working hard and spending money. Constructing a system like this with a forest of PVC pipe takes time, money & effort and maintaining it would be a pain. There's no way to completely clean a system like this short of fully disassembling it. In the past, I've commented to Bob that he deserves a metric fucktonne of weed out of this system for all the work he has in it.
