Dave's 3rd Grow: Pineapple Chunk in DWC w/fogger

[flowamasta]

be careful when adjusting ph, i have learned the hard way, going up and down like a hooker, try adding half the amount you would normally give, wait 20mins, check again, or maybe wait longer, it can take time for the ph adjusters to react with the salts in nutrient. i check my ph every morning and night, becasue i'm obsessive bigtime, good work mate, i can clearly see Lordjin has inspired you, tie them branches down!!! don't be scared mate they still got some stretch left in them i rekon

 

[daveroller]

be careful when adjusting ph, i have learned the hard way, going up and down like a hooker, try adding half the amount you would normally give, wait 20mins, check again, or maybe wait longer, it can take time for the ph adjusters to react with the salts in nutrient. i check my ph every morning and night, becasue i'm obsessive bigtime, good work mate, i can clearly see Lordjin has inspired you, tie them branches down!!! don't be scared mate they still got some stretch left in them i rekon

I've been pushing the tall branches down away from the lights. I'll see if I can tie down some more. The other idea I had was maybe putting a "cage" of chicken wire or something around the front of the light fixture, so that I can use it to help bend the leaves and buds away from touching the lights.

I think I'm having a little trouble dialing in the right ppm. Think it's too high and that's what's causing the pH to go up. Geez, I should have caught that sooner, but I've been a little distracted this week with other stuff. Yeah, I'm a newb.

Edit: pH has been going down, not up. Pardon my dyslexia.

 

[flowamasta]

all good man, give her a big flush, and nute change, run a lowish ppm if u feel that would be safer

 

[daveroller]

all good man, give her a big flush, and nute change, run a lowish ppm if u feel that would be safer

Is it safe to just give her plain water overnight and then a nute change tomorrow?

 

[daveroller]

... i can clearly see Lordjin has inspired you, tie them branches down!!! don't be scared mate they still got some stretch left in them i rekon

Yeah, Jin's a good guy. I don't know about inspiring me, but he's given me a lot of helpful advice this past year.

 

[daveroller]

Changed water today after giving her a good flush. Added nutes until the ppm was 555. Initial pH is around 5.4, but I want to let it settle before adjusting it. Now hopefully she'll be able to take in nutes better. I'll track the ppm & pH progress more closely now to make sure.

Also moved the electrical stuff in my cabinet away from the air intake duct:

Just cut the bottom off a square plastic pail and put all the cords & connectors in there and set the big CFL on top of it. Now the airflow into the cabinet should be a little better. It looks a little neater in there, too. Lots of work this morning, but it was worth it.

 

[daveroller]

Just checked the ppm again. Appears it went down from 555 to 530 ppm. pH was 5.6, up from 5.4. Both signs that she's taking in nutrients. Set the pH to 6.0. I believe that she really needs to take in lots of Mag, so that pH should help her do it.

 

[GunRunner]

Nice man, good call on the Ph methinks, will be keeping an eye on your journal since I just started growing the same strain, soil grow though.

Subbed!

 

[daveroller]

Hey, glad to have you aboard. I'm afraid I messed up this grow, though, so if I don't end up harvesting too much, it isn't the plant's fault, it's mine. I need some brighter lights. Hopefully it isn't too late to rescue her.

I just subbed your thread too. I might try a soil grow this summer, so I'll watch how you do it. Good luck with yours, man.

 

[daveroller]

She drank about a gallon in a little over 24 hours. Buds are bulking up slightly every day now. Pics to come, maybe tomorrow.

pH was 5.0 when I checked it tonight. That has me a little concerned, but I'll see what it is in the morning. ppm's are very low, so I don't believe it's from too much nutrient.

After adjusting pH:

ppm:....... 465
pH:........ 5.75
Water temp: 66° F
Air temp:.. 71° F

 

[daveroller]

Checked the pH & nute concentration in the res today:

ppm:.. 480 up from 465
pH:... 5.4 down from 5.75

Those are normally signs that the plant is getting too much nutrient. So I added about another gallon of water and checked ppm again.

ppm:.. 395
pH:... 5.00 ???

Don't understand how the pH went DOWN after adding RO water. It should have gone UP, approaching 7. Could the water have washed some more acid out of the roots that had been lingering there?

Anyway, adjusted the pH up to a more normal level:

ppm:.. 435
pH:... 5.65

I'm going to leave it settle for a while and check it again in a few hours.

 

[daveroller]

Checked on it pH later yesterday afternoon.

pH:... 5.67
ppm:... 445

Adjusted the pH up a little.

pH:... 5.92
ppm:... 483

Today:

pH:... 6.07 - a good sign -- rise in pH means that she's taking in nutes
ppm:... 490

Roughly the same concentration as yesterday. So I think that means that she's taking in nutes at about the same rate as she's drinking water.

Added water.

pH:... 5.95
ppm:... 398

I still don't understand how the pH goes down when I add supposedly RO water. Should have checked the water's pH before pouring it in the res. Maybe I should get it from a different source.

Anyway, I added some premixed nute solution to the res to raise the ppm a little. Will let it settle a while before checking it again.

One welcome development is that the plant stopped stretching for the time being, so she's not getting any closer to the lights.

Here are some pics that I took yesterday:

Yup, the main stem really is as thick as my thumb.

 

[Mineralz]

Hellz yea Dave. That trunk is a beast for surez! Looks like you got frostiness comin along as well

 

[daveroller]

Hellz yea Dave. That trunk is a beast for surez! Looks like you got frostiness comin along as well

Yeah, those little flowers are growing slowly but surely.

Checked the res water tonight:

pH:.... 6.0
ppm:... 573

We'll have to see if she can take the jump in nutrient level.

 

[GunRunner]

Hey, glad to have you aboard. I'm afraid I messed up this grow, though, so if I don't end up harvesting too much, it isn't the plant's fault, it's mine. I need some brighter lights. Hopefully it isn't too late to rescue her.

I just subbed your thread too. I might try a soil grow this summer, so I'll watch how you do it. Good luck with yours, man.

Thanks bro, Hope my grow can be of help to you.

Don't worry about messing up a hydro grow, it's real tricky from what I hear...

There is no such thing as bad experience ^^

 

[daveroller]

Thanks bro, Hope my grow can be of help to you.

Don't worry about messing up a hydro grow, it's real tricky from what I hear...

There is no such thing as bad experience ^^

I agree with that quote. We always learn something from unpleasant experiences. And in this grow I'm leaning a lot! hehe

Yes, hydro is a bit tricky. With this Pineapple Chunk even more so than my LSD was. It seems to like much lower nute levels and doesn't tolerate anywhere near the levels listed in the instructions on bottles of nutrient solutions. I might just grow in dirt next time, just to avoid all the headaches. I can't even go away for a weekend while growing in hydro.

Anyway, I checked the res earlier today and noticed that the pH had dropped down from about 24 hours earlier:

pH:... 5.65
ppm:... 600

This means that I raised the ppm too high yesterday. So I diluted it by adding another gallon of water. Let it sit for a few hours. pH was a little bit lower, so just adjusted it up to:

pH:... 6.10
ppm:... 500

Hopefully she can take 500 ppm tonight.

 

[daveroller]

Checked res again yesterday:

pH:... 6.05
ppm:... 536

Checked again today:

pH:... 6.21
ppm:... 506

That's better. I think she's eating ok again. Adjusted pH to:

pH:... 5.86
ppm:... 486

ppm reading must have been wrong, either this time or the previous. Couldn't have gone down simply from adjusting the pH. Anyway, things are looking good today. I hope she keeps growing now.

 

[GunRunner]

I agree with that quote. We always learn something from unpleasant experiences. And in this grow I'm leaning a lot! hehe

Yes, hydro is a bit tricky. With this Pineapple Chunk even more so than my LSD was. It seems to like much lower nute levels and doesn't tolerate anywhere near the levels listed in the instructions on bottles of nutrient solutions. I might just grow in dirt next time, just to avoid all the headaches. I can't even go away for a weekend while growing in hydro.

Anyway, I checked the res earlier today and noticed that the pH had dropped down from about 24 hours earlier:

pH:... 5.65
ppm:... 600

This means that I raised the ppm too high yesterday. So I diluted it by adding another gallon of water. Let it sit for a few hours. pH was a little bit lower, so just adjusted it up to:

pH:... 6.10
ppm:... 500

Hopefully she can take 500 ppm tonight.

I heard that also from another bright fellow growing PC in soil, so with you confirming this, I'm gona go max 1/2 strength nutes for mine....Collective experience....now that rocks!!!!

 

[daveroller]

Adjusted the pH before beddy bye.

Before adjusting:

pH:... 6.00
ppm:... 500

The pH went up, so that's good. ppm reading must not be accurate because it's been all over the place.

After adjusting:

pH:... 5.71
ppm:... 494

See? Adding pH-Down shouldn't make the ppm go down. Anyway, I think this should be a good pH in case it goes up overnight.

Good night Irene! Bon Appétit!

 

[daveroller]

I heard that also from another bright fellow growing PC in soil, so with you confirming this, I'm gona go max 1/2 strength nutes for mine....Collective experience....now that rocks!!!!

I'm glad that you mentioned that about another grower... Good to know that I'm not the only one struggling with the nute level for this strain. Too bad I don't have anymore seeds of this Pineapple Chunk, because I could do better next time knowing what I learned in this grow.