MaiNiaK's Hydro

Well here we go.
I went to my local hydro store and picked up some Cal/Mag+. I had grabbed the Botanicare brand that I normally get and the guy at the store talked me into GH's line. I already use GH so I took that one.

After I had already added it to my tank I noticed it's actually GO, General Organics. Which is derived from decaying plant matter.
Started growing some shit in my tank so I had to dump and clean the whole tank. I won't make that mistake again.

Sorry to hear that! Hope it wasn't that bad a job.

GandalfdaGreen said:

Sorry to hear that! Hope it wasn't that bad a job.

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The worst part was dumping all the nutrients ($).
The tank pumps out fast. A few scrubs with the RV brush then sprayed it down and out the bottom valve and into that 5 gallon bucket.

I probably should have cleaned out the buckets up in the room aswell but they drain to the opposite tank anyways. So I will keep an eye on them.
I added a little bleach this time so that should help, until it dissipates.

Lovely jubbly!

I see they didn't go through too much of a shock when you introduced them to their new hydro enviroment. That's good news, I wanted to start some seeds in soil and then transfer to hydro.

I have a few that took it worse then others but they are coming round,

I have transferred clones and especially seedlings to hydro many times. I start my seeds in peat pucks. Once sprouted they can ether go straight into a bucket lid or planted in a solo cup of promix. Going to a solo cup helps if you need to veg for a little bit but don't have room in a hydro system at the moment.
I normally use a bucket of water to wash the roots off. Just get them the best that you can. The roots will cling to the rest and the substraight will help also.

The plants are starting to really take off.

Update.

Very nice setup! Keeping an eye on this one. So your buying mixed nutes? Have you thought about mixing your own eventually? And sorry if I missed it but what if any beneficials, or sterile? Again great setup, best of luck!

Budley Doright said:

Very nice setup! Keeping an eye on this one. So your buying mixed nutes? Have you thought about mixing your own eventually? And sorry if I missed it but what if any beneficials, or sterile? Again great setup, best of luck!

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Thanks.
Yes I buy my nutes. Right now I'm running GH 3 part. Switching to Flora Bloom once the lights flip + Cool Bloom.
I have thought about mixing my own nutes. I've read articles and some posts on it. I just don't want to get on some gooberment watch list. (Ammonium nitrate)
I'm not running any beneficials nor any sterilizers. Though my tap water does have some clorine in it. But it dissipates rapidly. Haven't had any real issues as of yet. I just keep my tank room cool and dark.

Again Thanks... I try to run a clean operation.!

I setup my tri meter, even though it needs a replacement ph probe.
I've been running hydro for some time now. So I'm well versed on how ppm's effect ph. I don't even use ph down or up. I let it swing from 5.5 to 6.4, roughly.

so clean man, love it. thats prob my biggest shortcoming...I definitely need to get more organized and cleanly. Setting up a new room that will be dedicate grow space not shared garage, so should be easier I hope.

The update shot shows how quick they are growing, cant wait to see this thread progress.

stay free stay high

papa

MaiNiaK420 said:

This round had to be filled with a mix of seedlings and clones that were started in dirt and rinsed off to introduce to hydro.

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Nice work, well designed system.

Suggestion:

Instead of rooting cuttings or starting seed in soil-----try vermiculite (my preference) or perlite----much easier to rinse off.


Obviously the pic is of a rooted clone. Same process can be used for starting seed.

Used bloom soup at around 250--350 ppm (.7).

If interested, check out the link in my sig.

A~~~

Alaric said:

Nice work, well designed system.

Suggestion:

Instead of rooting cuttings or starting seed in soil-----try vermiculite (my preference) or perlite----much easier to rinse off.
View attachment 3689730

Obviously the pic is of a rooted clone. Same process can be used for starting seed.

Used bloom soup at around 250--350 ppm (.7).

If interested, check out the link in my sig.

A~~~

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Nice healthy looking clone you have there.

I don't normally go from dirt to hydro. But I had to this time due to not having my hydro veg room up and running. All my flood tables were being used to house all my outdoor girls. Normally I would start from peat pellets or rapid rooters and go straight into net pot bucket lids.
Though if I ever do have to go this route again I'll definitely try this out.

I actually got some of these cuttings from a friend. Didn't realize it at the time but he was dealing with fungus gnats. So now I have a few plants that are infected. I'm going to try to eradicate them starting tomorrow.

This is why I normally don't trade clones and often go with stable seed stock. Also why I don't go into the room unless absolutely necessary. Cause even in a nice clean, sterile environment pests can get in. I've also bought filters for my intake.



You can see a few stunted ones. At first I thought they were stunted due to transplanting/transfering them.

I don't know how I missed this thread when it was first started, but I'm hooked. Looks stellar! I love your system, very nice. Sounds like you had to do some quick sourcing for your ladies. Looks like they are coming along very nicely. There is nothing to critique about your grow, it's on point. I've transplanted from soil to hydro before a couple times out of necessity as well. I didn't know this at first, but soil will naturally contain pythium which causes root rot. I was successful, but had to use a sterilizer to help keep things under control until it was all gone. I'm running an undercurrent system, so it's quite a bit different as I'm sure you know. Not to mention, I believe your system the way it's constructed would inhibit pythium growth because the roots are suspended, and not constantly in the water. The buildup in your feeding tank certainly could be because of the go calmag, but something to think about. If it is infected, a few doses of h2o2 would clear it up and clean out any residual in the system itself. They certainly don't look like anything is wrong with them. Also, the only other thing on my mind is are you sure those are fungus gnats and not root aphids? Aphids would be obvious, but I had a buddy that thought he had gnats come to find out they were aphids and it ruined his crop. Your setup looks great, you should start atv jungle tours.

Verdict is in. They are root aphids..!!



We've added a filter to the intake.



Added nylons to the lights and as you can see we are catching aphids already.



Most of the plants are looking fine though.





Top picture shows the worst plant bottom right. You can also see some home made traps we made. I also set off a couple bombs during lights out today, and placed a few mothballs in every net pot lid. I do have a few more tricks up my sleeve.
I'll be switching to 12/12 shortly so I need to get these under control.

MaiNiaK420 said:

Verdict is in. They are root aphids..!!

View attachment 3693178

We've added a filter to the intake.

View attachment 3693180

Added nylons to the lights and as you can see we are catching aphids already.

View attachment 3693181

Most of the plants are looking fine though.

View attachment 3693182

View attachment 3693183

Top picture shows the worst plant bottom right. You can also see some home made traps we made. I also set off a couple bombs during lights out today, and placed a few mothballs in every net pot lid. I do have a few more tricks up my sleeve.
I'll be switching to 12/12 shortly so I need to get these under control.

Click to expand...

Have you checked the roots on the plants in hydro? That's where they grow and live. They will look like black dots all over the root system. If they are in the root system, the only thing I've heard of being effective is Mallat which I believe in on the banned list here in CO. (for commercial/med) grows. Found this online:

Yrs I have checked the root zone. That's how I first discovered them. Then the fliers came.
I am making progress on them and will post more on this as we progress.
After this run the room will be completely shut down and sterilized before proceeding.

All we can do is keep moving forward. These are some of the things we deal with. No matter how perfect we try to be sometimes, shit happens. I'm sure you'll eradicate these pests and things will be fine.

I stopped by the grow today to check on things. All the fliers are dead. Still drenching with azatrol, back to the opposing tank.
I have to flip the lights tomorrow and do a tank change.
So things are looking up.

The plants that got hit the hardest are what they are. There's no changing that. Luckily it's only a few, and they seem to be the ones directly in front of the intake fan. So maybe I was wrong about the origin. Ether way these root aphids have met thier match.

I will update with pictures tomorrow