Invertebrate
Member
I like mylar personally. Has good reflective qualities and is easy for me to get.
New grow room I just built but have quesrtions
- Thread starter abuilder
- Start date
Hey you guys think I can use a roofing material called tpo? It's a white PVC based material and is used to reflect light away from roofs to keep it cool inside. It's highly reflective and I have some butt rolls laying around, was thinking of using this instead of Mylar as I already have it..
tet1953
Well-Known Member
Unless there are dire warnings on it I wouldn't worry too much about that. Besides, I assume you have some adequate ventilation for the plants already so the room air gets exchanged often.
abuilder
Well-Known Member
- Seeds were put in the sprouting tray May 21..Seedling in peat pot went into small pots May 25...and this is from a few minutes ago June 11...2 1/2 week from seedling. 4 of the 10 Barney's sprouted 2 LSD 2 Kush Violator . The LSD's are on the right...one large and one small...The Kush Violator on the left..one large one small...kinda weird, no? The larger ones do look pretty nice though for less than three weeks old? Wish they were all closer to the same size and as long as I'm wishing...I wish a whole lot more of em' sprouted...grrrr#$%^$@)&...feel kinda ripped off...but better four than nuttin'...Will I use 'Tude again? Thinkin' 'bout it...not sure..
Then there's one in the sprouter on the far right bottom of the tray kinda struggling to come up but I don't think she'll make itand if she does she'll be so far behind the others not sure what I'd do with her...
I've had my cool tube on 24 hours a day..average 80-85 deg temp without having to use the inline fan ...yet...oscillating fanz been going...used FF nutes twice so far the last two waterings and that really pushed em' up I think...the light is 22" above the larger plants...soil is 6.2(ish). Think I'll transplant into pots maybe twice the size they're in next or whatever they sell at HD thats a size up from these.....any suggestions for this noob?
Whatcha think? It's my first indoor grow..
oh yeh.. The humidity levels been between 45%-53% just about all the time...I turn on a humidifier occasionally when it gets lower than 45%...Don't look at the white hydrometer on the left...I gotta toss it...it doesn't work right but the black one on top of the plants works nicely...I used it in my ball jars when the herb I grew outdoors last year was curing...
EDIT: Last photo was from 2 1/2ish weeks ago when I was setting things up...ended up with the 600W cool tube HPS about 16" above the tray
abuilder
Well-Known Member
Just transplanted the last two of my four girls into bigger pots. Did a liquid kit PH test and it looks somewhere between 6-0 7-0 maybe closer to 7-0 but the leaves espcially on one of the plants (far left in first photo) which is in the same soil as the rest I think is showing signs of being too acid? I'm not sure. Why is one plant showing signs worse than the others? anyway..whatcha think?
kermit2692
Well-Known Member
dont mess with ph your just going to confuse yourself and start fucking with the soil and cause a REAL problem...the plants look good your soil will act as a buffer for anything you add and most nutrient regimens are ph balanced and use distilled water or water left out for a couple days....your ph really wont move much through a whole grow in soil
tet1953
Well-Known Member
Yeah I worry more about chlorine than ph with tap water. I used to leave buckets out but when you're using 30+ gallons of water a week it gets to be a drag. Plus, I have read where the industry has or is switching to different compounds to chlorinate water. It's still chlorine, but compounds that don't evaporate as easily. It costs less to keep the water chlorinated I guess. For us though, it means we don't get rid of chlorine as easily.
I have been using a filter I got from HTG called the chlorine snatcher. Works great and replacement filters (at about 6 months) don't cost much.
I have been using a filter I got from HTG called the chlorine snatcher. Works great and replacement filters (at about 6 months) don't cost much.
abuilder
Well-Known Member
Thanks Tet & Kermit..appreciate the feedback. I agree which is why I didn't use the PH up yet...the plant(s) actually look a bit better..not that they looked so bad before. I have 3 spackle buckets at the edge of a tarp in my backyard. I use the small tarp (6x8 ) to funnel rain water into the buckets. I'm thinking the rain water has to be better than the tap water and distilled water would costa fortune at this point. the filter is a good idea but the tarp was cheap and spackle buckets I have dozens of. Not sure how I'm supposed to know when they need to be transplanted again but from the photos I just posted the other day...do y'all have any idea? I think next weekend I'll just do the transplanting into bigger five gallon pots. It saves me on the nutes not having to water plants that aren't worthy of the larger sized pots yet but I'm gonna need a hand transplanting them. One person turning the pots over while the other has their hands onthe soil around the main stem. Has me a little nervous doing that but...well...we'll see how that goes. The wife better be ready...and steady...lol
tet1953
Well-Known Member
Unless you have really high ceilings I personally believe 5 gal is overkill indoors. I mean, how big do you want to get them? A 3 gal pot can grow really decent sized plants, I've been using them a long time. I only transplant once, really. Clone -> 6" pot -> final pot.
abuilder
Well-Known Member
I have little better'n 7' ceilings. Not sure if the next step up in the pots I'd get is actually 5 gallon. Just a guess..Might be 4. It's maybe a little smaller than a 5 gallon spackle bucket. Thing is...Out of the 10 beans I tried sprouting only four worked out so I was thinking I might want to let them grow taller than I might if more had sprouted. Thinking I'd get more herb out of each plant... or is that not right? I thought I'd keep it in the veg state a bit longer'n normal. Wish I had glass pots so I could see if the root ball was getting tight or not....Ya know...that ain't such a bad idea. Use a 3-4 gallon clear glass pots with a drainage hole and cover it with some white paper or something just to keep the soil from getting too hot from the lights and take a peak under the paper every week or so. Might have to do a google search and see if such a pot exists for a reasonable price. Think thats a dopey idea??
Heyyyy...I've had worse ideas..lol
kermit2692
Well-Known Member
glass is bad actually you dont want the roots to see light!! i believe the reason was it causes the roots to think they are at the top of the soil or stresses the plant or something but im sure you dont want the roots to see light....but ya you can veg a little longer just make sure to train the plants well once you get to a certain height you wont get much light penetration without having trained the plant properly.....i also only transplant one time from a party style cup straight to the 5 gallon bucket (because those are cheap)
abuilder
Well-Known Member
Yeh..next time I'm only going to transplant one more time from the small pot. It's gonna be a PITA to turn over the pots they're in now.
Regarding glass and light...thats why I said to put white paper or cloth around them so no light gets to the roots plus the white will reflect the heat off them. Thats why I searched out the white pots they're in now..vs dark colored pots. Dark colors have to absorb the heat which we don't want. I also got to thinking maybe I could find clear "plastic" 4-5 gallon pots (cheaper)and even if they don't have drainage holes I could drill through plastic. I might try and search them out. If nothing else it'd be interesting to see. I'm only guessing it's a dopey idea because I never heard of anyone doing that before..but maybe I'm smarter than I think.....nahhhh...lol.
I'll letcha know how it goes and if anyone else reading this knows of a reason it'd be a horrible idea I'm all ears....but don't forget...I'll be covering the clear glass/plastic pots with a white covering (or mylar?) I can pull back occasionally to view the root ball
kermit2692
Well-Known Member
ahhh i must have read right over that part 
....you could get the rubbermaid bins and drill holes if you want plastic...either the 20 gallon rectangle style and two plants per tub or maybe you can find a more square style that is smaller..im sure you could macguyver something lol...look into air pruning, basically is where you put alot of holes in the pot on the sides and bottom and watch for the roots to start growing out the holes then when they see light and hit air they prune themselves off and start regrowing elsewhere...at least thats what i gathered, promotes root growth! i tried it once but my roots never made it to the edge of my huge pot 
....you could get the rubbermaid bins and drill holes if you want plastic...either the 20 gallon rectangle style and two plants per tub or maybe you can find a more square style that is smaller..im sure you could macguyver something lol...look into air pruning, basically is where you put alot of holes in the pot on the sides and bottom and watch for the roots to start growing out the holes then when they see light and hit air they prune themselves off and start regrowing elsewhere...at least thats what i gathered, promotes root growth! i tried it once but my roots never made it to the edge of my huge pot
tet1953
Well-Known Member
lol I dunno the clear pots thing just sounds silly to me, no offense
besides I can tell you what it'll look like lol. It would take a long time for a 5 gal pot to get totally bound I believe, plus you would have giant plants. Expect the roots to do what they always do..drive straight to the bottom and circle. Actually my plants don't really take off till they've done that.
besides I can tell you what it'll look like lol. It would take a long time for a 5 gal pot to get totally bound I believe, plus you would have giant plants. Expect the roots to do what they always do..drive straight to the bottom and circle. Actually my plants don't really take off till they've done that.
abuilder
Well-Known Member
Dudeeee..that is so sick!! I love it! How come I hardly hear anyone talking about it?? I gotta look into this more. Way better'n my dopey idea...lol...See...I knew there musta been a reason my idea wasn't so good.ahhh i must have read right over that part
HEre's one video on air pots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOf-39YS_GU&feature=related
but this video is way funnier cause this dude has to be totally boned out...lol...dude's so stoned...I think...lol-->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFwomb7Uddo
OK..gotta learn more about this. Very cool.Mucho thanxo...I think..heh heh
tet1953
Well-Known Member
I tried air pots and I honestly didn't see much of a difference. My yields, while not the super yields I see claimed on here all the time, are satisfactory. Air pots are reusable a few times I guess but I dunno. The idea seems cool for sure. I had side by sides though, several times and did not see much diff.
Wanna help your roots get some micorhizzae
Wanna help your roots get some micorhizzae