You asked… 
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Yeah, Ive been using socket wrenches and plant ties to force them to grow sideways, but the darn nodes and leaves are still just too close.
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Day 44
Minor up-date and some randome thoughts.
First - I was right to worry about those root bundles that are hanging down from the chamber ceiling. The largest on the back side of the net pots has fallen down. It didnt go far - too many roots tangled with the roots from the pots, plus some small tap roots are holding it in place,
By the way - in all these pics, the brown areas are really not brown. There is just too muc h contrast between the super fuzzy roots and regular, non-fuzzy roots. That makes the non-fuzzy areas look brown, but to the naked eye they are just barely off white.
Yesterday vrs today
The roots in the lower part of the chamber have spread wide enough to be partially blocking the mist from both of the nozzles. Plus, it looks like some parts of the roots that were doing great are drying out due to lack of mist, while other sections are doing better. The plants dont seem to be suffering with the possible exception of the middle girl. She is now the runt by a large margin and Im suspecting its partly due to the roots being partially shadowed from the mist.
I have been increasing the flow rate almost on a daily basis trying to keep the ‘dry’ areas wet enough, but some sections just are not getting good coverage. Its becoming more and more clear that I need more nozzles to adequately cover this size chamber. Im now up to 0.8 seconds ON by 34 seconds OFF. That has increased my flow rate from just over 1 gallon/day to just over 1.8 gallons per day.
This was two days ago vrs today.
For the next grow, Im going to add at least one more nozzle, but if I can afford it I will add two more for a total of 4 nozzles. Im also seriously considering shooting down from the top next time. That should delay the roots getting in the way - I hope. I suspect it will be less efficient as far as mist being lost to the chamber floor and walls, but I can live with a higher flow rate easily. Im still using no more nutes than I was doing any other type of hydro.
Im still unsure which way to go because I dont know how much of these current difficulties are a result of my trying to kill off the roots three different times. I can only guess how things would be if the roots had been able to just grow naturally. Things might have gotten plugged up even sooner, or they may have been doing super well by now, so who knows.
Here are some plant pics. I installed the scrog screen two days ago, but the growth rate seems to have slowed down a lot. The stretch may be mostly over, but I hope not.
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Wow that’s gorgeous bro. Looks like monofilament. Fiberglass shards everywhere. Everything grows so lush. I’d love to try a hydroponic setup. Beautiful work. I love root porn.
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Yup. Im addicted to root porn too 
In fact, it was looking into root development, and looking at root porn, that got me interested in hydro to begin with.
Hydro is all about getting the best possible ratio of oxygen, nutes, and water to the roots for the best/fastest growth of the plant. Done properly, you should see higher yields, and better quality at harvest time compared to soil grows - in theory.
For me, I started in soil and did fairly well. I averaged about 4.5 grams/day, dry yield, in soil. Thats counting the days from seed sprout to harvest. Since switching to hydro, Ive been averaging a little over 7 gm/day, dry yield, or more than a 50% increase in dry yield per day of growing. Thats a huge jump in yield.
AND that increase is despite all my screw ups and repeated attempts to kill off the roots by stupidity. I have yet to complete a clean, no trouble hydro grow - other than my hempy bucket growing
So far, I have tried pretty much every type of hydro there is except for DWC. Ive done Hempy buckets, Ebb/Flow, NFT, Membrane Meniscus, Hydro Farms, Low Pressure Aero (LPA) and High Pressure Aero (HPA), and now Air Atomized Aero or AAA. I skipped DWC because too many threads on DWC had major root rot issues, and it just didnt appeal to me for some reason.
HPA and AAA should, in theory, be the “best” way to grow anything because they provide the best possible environment and the best possible ratio of oxygen to water ratio for the roots - in theory. You as a grower still have to do it correctly 
My two favorite techniques are hempy buckets and AAA.
There is no simpler way to grow than hempy buckets - period.
You fill up a bucket with perlite or something similar, drill some drain holes a short distance up the side of the bucket (about 1/4 of the way from the bottom) and your done. Water with the nutes of your choice every few days - when the buckets get light - and thats it.
I now start all my seedlings in mini hempy buckets. I was also keeping my mothers in hempy buckets when I was doing clones. Stupid simple way to grow.
AAA on the other hand is one of the more technically challenging ways to grow (as far as gizmos, gadgets, settings, things to adjust, etc) and it requires almost constant attention to details early on. It does get more hands off once you get the hang of it, and get things dialed in.
I am a gizmo, and gadget type of guy, so growing in soil or hempy buckets is just plain boring to me. I have to admit that I dont grow using AAA because of the extra yield or the quality. I actually havent seen a great difference in quality, and I am certainly not going to hit anywhere near 7 gm/day on this grow. The primary reason is I just like to play with the toys
If you decide to go hydro, hempy buckets are by far the easiest, simplest, cheapest way to get started. No water pumps, no air pumps, no rez, no timers, no heaters, no chillers, no solenoids, no nothing except a bucket filled with perlite and some PH’ed nutes and you are good to go.
On the other hand, if you want more challenge or just something new to try, there are a dozen variations on most of the different hydro techniques, so lots of new things to play with and keep you interested.
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I didn’t wanna say anything, but I grew better grass in solos. Stabbed holes and fed like you said. I had awesome results. The plants were stuffed around my 3 gal smart pots. They weren’t getting all the light they could’ve been either. I have a Chemdog female that’s just finished stretch in flower in a 4" burpee pot. It’s the healthiest plant flowering.
I haven’t tales to @slain in a bit, but he kills with DWC. He’s been doing it for a while probably. I don’t have the space for a resivoir right now. I’ll get there. In the future when we can if love a small greenhouse. I think MJ would help heal old wounds amongst groups of people as well. I’m rambling. Nice Stuff bro. I love those roots. It’s like an alien world. Ever put a microscope on them?
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Day 45
This is a crappy GIF of the last 9 days of growth - Sept 30 to today.
Oops - wrong file and now the one I want is too big…back in abit…
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I got to get pics of mine tonight and update my log. Looks like the alaskan purple will yield more than the gohst toof despite the gt being a bit larger. Thought they were starting to eat themselves until i checked the ph and saw it was 5.2. Hopefully they look better tonight after adjusting up to 5.8
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Woaaaaahhh. Sorry had to get the 20+. Where’s all these cool people around here? I’m tired of being the only weed nerd. That’s awesome man. Healthy.
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Day 48 Almost 7 weeks.
Other than the small over all size, and that they look like they have a good way to go before harvest, everything looks pretty good. I think I am going to stop training under the screen and let them start to go vertical. It looks like I have maybe 1/2 the screen filled so far. Normally, I would have filled the screen to the 2/3 or 3/4 point before ‘flipping’, but this auto stuff is new territory for me. We will see how it goes.
This still looks like its going to be an undersized grow, but its looking a lot better than I was afraid it would. The amount of stretch has really surprised me. If I can get even 1/3 of my normal harvest weight I will be very pleased considering how badly I have treated them.
Its amazing to me they are doing this well after all the root abuse.
It seems odd to me, but some bud sites are starting to show some frost while other that look to be similarly developed on the same plant, have zero frost.
I was getting worried about the roots dying back in some places, but there is no smell or slime, and no sign of rot or disease. I finally decided the die back is just air trimming like you would normally see in a fabric pot. In places where they dont get enough water, they shrivel up. They make up for that by growing more in other sections of the chamber. Sections that get too much water, turn smooth, but are still healthy.
I do have fewer fuzzies than before, but Im confident that is due mostly to my increasing the flow rate. The sections that get strong mist are getting too much while I try to give the under watered areas enough.
I have been wondering if the hi feed levels have anything to do with the drop in fuzzies. I am now up to EC 2.2 with no sign of over feeding. Im not sure whats going on. Ive never been able to run even close to this hi a feed concentration before without seeing burning.
Im tempted to cut back for a few days to see if anything changes. Might do that next time I top off the rez. On the other hand - LITFA… On the other other hand, its more likely that the chlorine Im adding is hurting the fuzzies, so I may leave the EC alone.
The rez and the whole PH thing and the whole algae what ever thing is all going fairly well. The main thing that seems to be working is keeping the rez water cool - below 65 deg F. At that temp there is little to no PH change over time even with vigorous aeration.
I do need to keep the chlorine levels steady. I add chlorine when I top off to around 3PPM of chlorine. I have to refresh that with a 1/2 dose every other day or every two days at most or the water turns cloudy. If it stays cloudy for more than a day, and I let the temps climb in the rez, the smell starts up. Im thinking this is a bacterial thing rather than algae. Some bug in my water really likes Mega Crop.
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Larry, tip of the cap sir. You are one of the most dedicated growers I know! Always refining method to optimize. Should type up an SOP and sell it lol. Make your time = money
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Thanks for the compliment!
I have actually thought about writing up something more condensed and easier to follow as far as instructions for a basic setup. theory of operation, parts list, etc, etc. There are two main reasons I have not done that.
- Im lazy.
- I keep changing things as I find better ways to do things or I find that an early assumption turns out to be incorrect.
Bottom line is, I think Im starting to begin to almost just about to maybe get the hang of this type of growing, but Im still a looooong way from being a seasoned veteran or master mister
If I could get through even a single grow cycle without more than 1/2 killing the roots/plants, then I might think about it again - but Im still lazy 
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Day 51 and Im bored, so you all get an up-date whether or not you want one 
Im bored because everything is running well and I have little to do. No timing adjustments, no lolly popping or trimming, no LST. Just an occasional leaf tuck, maybe take a pic or two, top off the rez, maybe adjust the PH.
My main challenge is keeping the LITFA going. This isnt quite as bad a growing in soil. At least I can get stoned, and watch the pretty lights on my timers going on/off/on/off…
Ive probably jinxed myself now…
Things are going smoothly and the babies continue to grow.
Here is a fun GIF of the last two days of vertical growth with me mostly not doing anything.
The plants are still growing but also still small. The largest bud is maybe the size of a quarter. Most are still nickel sized. There is some frost showing up but not everywhere. The buds are starting to stack up and there are a lot more than I thought there would be even just a couple of weeks ago.
The roots continue to do interesting things, but over all they look good. They have actually been looking a tiny bit better the last few days. I suspect its just that areas that were dying back have finished that cycle while the areas that were growing in new stuff are looking great, and seem to be making headway faster than the die back…
Im especially interested to see whats happening with the tap roots. Its fascinating to me that each plant is so different in how the roots are developing.
The one on the right is what used to be the runt. It is now almost on par with the biggest sister and has the largest fan leaves. It also has a cool giant tap root. It started out as 3 or 4 smaller shoots, but they twisted together and almost seem to be merging together.
Mean while, the middle girl, which used to be middle sized, is now the runt. It has several much smaller taps roots just going random places.
The big girl on the left is doing several things with a bunch of larger tap roots, but they are also just doing random things.
The chunk of roots in back that was growing from the ceiling and came loose, still looks very healthy. It has sent out new exploration roots and started some new bunches on the ceiling.
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Grown a lot in the last few days. 
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My gohst toof is the same way. Lots of little buds mine are almost done
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Yeah, its hard to tell sometimes when you are checking on the plants several times a day. Especially when you’re training under a scrog screen. For some reason it seems more obvious when looking at pics from the side.
Its encouraging to me to see that much frost on your buds. That would be too early for me though. I like mine with a lot more amber.
I did an early harvest of Blue Dream last year that looked about like your trichs, and it was too jangly for me most days. Gets me kind of hyper, almost nervous. I prefer a little more to a lot more couch lock. It seems fairly good for pain and nausea though. I only use it during the day in small doses.
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I couldn’t find the pic with half of the trics amber. All those were crystal clear 3 days ago. They are being flushed now. Swapped to water with florakleen in it on Sat for the ghost toof and Monday for the alaskan purple since it had mostly clear trics and no amber. That changed to mostly cloudy trics from sat to Mon so it got switched as well
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Day 53
The plants are continuing to grow at a decent pace. They seem to have slowed down some, but not that much. The buds still look small to me, but there are a lot of them and they are starting to stack up and fill in.
Im also beginning to get some real smells off them when I handle them or trim/tuck a leaf. The frost is starting to get heavier too. Considering how much further the buds need to go, I am surprised at how much there is already.
Over all, I am feeling better and better about my potential yield.
Here is a new GIF of the last 5 days. I dont know why, but I love these GIF’s
The roots continue to look pretty good, but its more and more obvious that better coverage would be better. In other words, I need more nozzles for this chamber.
As the roots continue to grow and spread, it changes how the mist gets distributed. That causes areas that were nice and fuzzy white to air trim and die back, while other new areas grow in even more.
Im starting to think this could be wasting the plants energy to at least some degree. New roots grow, then die off forcing the plant to grow more roots all over again.
I went ahead and ordered two more nozzles. I may even install one of them before this grow is done. I for sure am going to add both before starting the next grow.
Im guessing I have at least two more weeks until they are ready to harvest. Maybe more. Im at 7.5 weeks now.
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