I have a few more pictures of this grow up over
HERE with this tread where I was asking for advice on the plants generally from the indoor growing forum.
@CannaCountry
Managing salt buildup: I keep the blumats free of salt buildup by opening them up three arrow turns then closing them back down, this seems to flush any salt buildup in the lines, every once and again I have to clear a dripper line that is not fully flowing when I do the line flush; I do this flush every two or three days with daily spot checks while I'm checking/cleaning the surface of the coco. Coco stays moist top to bottom with the blumats, which took a while figure out how to tune in but seem to manage to keep the coco in the correct moisture range. The maxi sensors do a better job than the short ones but they all pretty much work. I have switched from feeding 900-1000 total ppm to 600-700total ppm nutrient feed. 1/2 the plants I flushed with 1/4 strength nutrients until their runoff went down to 1200ppm, the other half I left as they were. I am not seeing much difference between the flushed and not flushed plants at the moment, the ones that got flushed were the worst of the bunch as far a leaf edge browning.
Reservoir(s): Two 17 gallon commander totes each feeding 2 plants. I check the res about every other day for ph, it tends to climb back up. I tend to put in at 5.9-6.2pH and the res tends to creep back up to 6.3-6.6 over a few days when plants aren't drinking much otherwise top ups bring ph down, if it gets too high I pH down the res. Circulation pumps in res totes. Plants tend to drink close to 20 gallons a day at this point, so the res volume gets pushed in about two days, refllls happen daily when they are a bit over half empty.
@Mason Jar 92705 "Hot feet" that makes since, I'll have to search that term, it does look like the salt mostly collects at the bottom few inches of the fabric planters.
My spinal alignment is already questioning my ergonomics choices relative to this hobby, if I go back to lifting these hefty ladies while I sit on the floor it is going to quit on me. I'll give some details below, TLDR is that with the Scrog on they're not moving anywhere vertically easily.
Before the scrog went on, I could lift the plants if I sat on the floor next to the planter, bear hugged the plant and lifted but that didn't seem to be worth it though: by the time I bear hug it I already know how wet it is, the fabric planter will either fell wet, damp, or dry when I put my hands on it and squeeze. I spent a few weeks doing lifts to test them and they always felt like I expected based on squeezing and putting my hand under the planter bottom. The 10 and especially 15 gallon planters are too large to grip and lift easily and with 4x4' plus plants I cant get over the top of them to lift normally, also they are in a scrog attached to a wire shelf so they're not levitating off to anywhere without some work.
I am looking into switching to those dripper plates people use on top of coco or at least trying them in the next run. The blumats haven't been much of a problem though as far as I can tell, no runaways at least and the plants seem ok with the moisture unless that browning is the start of a precipitous decline. They have only been needing minor adjustments to run regularly. It has been way easier to administer than when I was pouring or electric pumping water on plants by hand, so I am not looking to go back to that.
I do stick my hand in-between the bottom of the fabric pot and the plant elevator like I said above, if I'm running a bit higher flow rate that's where I check to see if I am making the root zone too wet. When a blumat sensor is feeding too little and it is too dry, the top of the coco pretty much shows it after a day and the side walls of the planter will feel a bit moist but closer to dry. With three sensors and six drippers per plant even when one sensor is running too little feed the other two keep the planter moist.
I was thinking about lowering my current feed from 1/2 strength to 1/4 strength or just running pHed tap water and either try to finish like that or bring it back up to 600-700 in week 6 of flower but I didn't want to be increasing nutrients in feed too late in flower. Today is day 27-28 since 12/12 switch, thinking they'll finish in week 7 or 8 but no real idea when they'll be ready, OG Kush.
