Testing Beneficial Bacteria in Ebb and Flow (AK47 with Great White)
- Thread starter homebrewer
- Start date
homebrewer
Well-Known Member
Day 36 today and I think I've got a handle on how to dial back the nutrients a touch when running Great White. The plants seem to be doing well with a 10% decrease in nutrients and a feeding level of about 850ppm or 1.2EC looks like it should work for the next few weeks. Nothing new to report, the pH is stable at 5.9, res change today, DynaGro nutrients with Floralicious Plus and sweet. The growth at this stage doesnt seem to be any different than if I werent running beneficials, but I guess final yield will be the tell-all.
Here are the ladies, update in a week, cheers!
Here are the ladies, update in a week, cheers!
Dropastone
Well-Known Member
Looking good as always HB.
Illumination
New Member
Beautiful and green as always...so it is making a measurable difference...but if only reduces nutrients needs??? Maybe some benefit will show up in the end products as well?
Awesome job as always my friend!
Namaste'
Awesome job as always my friend!
Namaste'
burrr
Well-Known Member
Homebrewer, your grow is looking amazing. I've got a couple nute questions for you.
Have you tried your old GH nute line-up with the addition of silica? I've got a feeling the silica is the main factor in your bigger yields since switching to dyna-grow.
Have you compared flora nectar to the sweet that you currently use? Are you convinced that the carbs help your plants, even before you started adding the bacteria. I have not found any info about plants using the carbs.
What do you think about enzymes? do they get the same results as bacteria? could be another test for you to run.
Thanks for sharing all this info!
Have you tried your old GH nute line-up with the addition of silica? I've got a feeling the silica is the main factor in your bigger yields since switching to dyna-grow.
Have you compared flora nectar to the sweet that you currently use? Are you convinced that the carbs help your plants, even before you started adding the bacteria. I have not found any info about plants using the carbs.
What do you think about enzymes? do they get the same results as bacteria? could be another test for you to run.
Thanks for sharing all this info!
homebrewer
Well-Known Member
I have about 7 gallons of GH nutes left and half of my reservoirs use GH with protekt. While Protekt is a great product, it doesn't do anything to directly influence yields. It's a great pH stabilizer because of it's higher pH and it adds a level of resistance to spider mites. It also helps grow studier plants, but in regards to yields, it did nothing for my GH-grown plants.
I have compared the two and Sweet is a better product. I've found floranectar to be unstable as I had 1/2 a bottle ferment on me and sweet has a better mineral content that plants can actually use. I don't use carb products for their carbs as plants already make their own sugars and have a limited ability to pull them up from the medium. I'm using sweet this round to feed the microbes but sweet also supplies a good dose of magnesium and sulfur.
Different products all together. In regards to enzymes, people should concentrate on mastering the basics of complete plant nutrition and maintaining healthy plants until harvest day. Only then should someone look into the extra rip-off additives that are out there. I've used a lot of rip-off products throughout the years and none of them have made as much of a difference as feeding plants with ideal NPK ratios and maintaining healthy feeding levels.
Normally I fill my tubs up with 15-17 gallons of water and top off with fresh water each day. Naturally as my plants feed throughout the week, the ppm drops and adding fresh water further dilutes the res. A larger res creates 'head space' issues given my flower room so I'm kinda stuck with my lower profile 15 gallon concrete mixing tub reservoirs.
The idea behind a larger res is that when properly feeding, your plants will consume water and food in similar ratios which constantly maintains a given feeding level. I've been experimenting with adding back nutes every few days in order to keep my feeding levels the same throughout the week. I'll let you know how it goes. Even with my 'top off with fresh water method', I still manage to get some solid yields.
shnkrmn
Well-Known Member
Hey Homebrewer. I use a Rubbermaid stock feeding tank for a res. They come in 50, 70, 100 and 300 gallon sizes and they are 25" high; they just have a bigger footprint rather than being deeper. They are cheeeeep, too, but not as cheap as your mixing tubs. This link is not for price but for example. You can buy them way cheaper at an agricultural supply center. They also can come with a drain valve and a top-off float valve.
http://www.rubbermaidforless.com/agriculture-stock-tanks-category-15_18.html
http://www.rubbermaidforless.com/agriculture-stock-tanks-category-15_18.html
upthearsenal
Well-Known Member
The buds are coming along nicely man, I was wondering, have you encountered any kind of biofilm on your media?
homebrewer
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the link, i'll keep those in mind since at least one of those looks like it could work with my height restrictions.
I don't think I've ever had anything on my medium that has caused any issues with or without the bennies.
researchkitty
Well-Known Member
What's a biofilm?
upthearsenal
Well-Known Member
I was wondering because I read something on adding bennies to hydro, and it said that any harsh chemicals will kill most of them off, yet some bacteria survive, and can form a biofilm. This could have been specific to dwc now that I think of it, but really, I can't remember much of what I read so I figured I should maybe ask you... it also could have been total bs because I read it on a thread here, but either way...
There isn't much I can tell you that google can't
MediMary
Well-Known Member
I am pulling up a seat to catch the results, great great thread homebrew.
ResearchKitty I just came across an article on biofilms, http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/Tomato-Salmonella-research-to-study-role-of-plastics-and-dry-biofilms?nocount
and I touch on in briefly in my thread too, im still trying to fully understand it, first time I heard the term biofilm was just a couple months ago
ResearchKitty I just came across an article on biofilms, http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/Tomato-Salmonella-research-to-study-role-of-plastics-and-dry-biofilms?nocount
and I touch on in briefly in my thread too, im still trying to fully understand it, first time I heard the term biofilm was just a couple months ago
SandstormGT
Active Member
I just glanced over several of your threads and I didn't see whether or not you stated how high your were flooding your concrete mixing trays. I was thinking that running the water up to about the .25" mark of the 6x6 cube for 1-2 minutes would allow the rockwool to soak up everything it needs. What are you doing as far as flood level, frequency, and duration?
Also, Are you running the DynaGro Foliage Pro or the DynaGrow Grow? Which do you think is ideal for a MJ plant in the vegetative state? I only ask because out of the 6+ hours of reading the posts of Fatman and Uncle Ben arguing back and forth in several threads, about the only thing that either of them agreed upon was that the 3-1-2 NPK ratio of DynaGro Foliage Pro was probably the best suited veg formula for the MJ plant and about the only thing on the market that provides that NPK as well as the other 12 essential nutrients our plants need. Thoughts?
Also, Are you running the DynaGro Foliage Pro or the DynaGrow Grow? Which do you think is ideal for a MJ plant in the vegetative state? I only ask because out of the 6+ hours of reading the posts of Fatman and Uncle Ben arguing back and forth in several threads, about the only thing that either of them agreed upon was that the 3-1-2 NPK ratio of DynaGro Foliage Pro was probably the best suited veg formula for the MJ plant and about the only thing on the market that provides that NPK as well as the other 12 essential nutrients our plants need. Thoughts?
homebrewer
Well-Known Member
They get flooded with about 2 inches of water 3 times for 15 minutes each time during each light cycle.
I use the 7-9-5 grow formula because when mixed in different ratios with their bloom, it's prefect for the different stages of flower. 3-1-2 is possibly 'ideal' for veg but the vegetative stage is cake and can be done with a 1-1-1 ratio.
When it comes to yield and quality, the ideal flowering NPKs and complete plant nutrition are what people should be arguing about. I think color spectrum of the bulbs in veg is much more important than specific NPK ratios. Again, 1-1-1 works fine for veg, no need to get too scientific about it, imo.
SandstormGT
Active Member
What color spectrum in veg are you going with? I always thought the 6500k was the norm...
homebrewer
Well-Known Member
I use a few 4000k mh bulbs from my local hardware store. One of these days I'm going to test some bluer halides but 4000k work just fine.