Adventures in hydro #3 - AAA or Air Atomized Aeroponics - for sure!

Almost forgot - I keep expecting to find hermies, but I havent found any yet. Its very possible I have missed some deep in the lower layers, but the leaves are so dense, and the nodes so close together, there is no way to see down in there very well at all.

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Looking like at least another two, maybe three weeks on those.

As far a hermies, they tend to be late flowering and not do too much harm.

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Looking like mine can be cut any day now, just have to make myself report to trim jail lol

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I have managed to have at least a few hermies - and at least some seeds - on every single grow. Im not worried about it though. As far as I can tell, it doesnt really effect potency significantly, and my yields have been excellent even with the seeds and sometimes some airy buds.

They do seem to show up late in the grow because all the seeds Ive found so far have been pretty small - maybe 1/2 - 2/3 normal size.

Nice! Im looking forward to seeing what you end up with.

If you get a chance, Id love to see a pic of your buds with something as a reference for size. Id like to see how big your buds are

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Will do brother. Migraine hit me last night so they are still living for the moment. Iā€™ll trim a few close so you can see the size. The gohst toof definitely has smaller buds, but more of them

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Well seeds wont really effect your RSO, so I can see how itā€™s not an issue.

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Earlier, I read this entire thread. I came back to distribute likes.

When I was reading the first post in this thread I saw the amazon nozzle you were considering, I thought to myself ā€¦ Why not a Hago/Delvan nozzleā€¦ sure enough next post you mentioned it.

I love what you are doing in here. Have you considered trying something other than megacrop to see if you can stay a bit more stable/not grow baddies in the res?

Jelly

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Given my own experience trying Megacrop, and eventually being compelled to admit that it doesnā€™t work for my situation (and being much happier for having done so), Iā€™ve wondered this a hundred times.

I feel like that subject must have been addressed before, but if so I cannot remember it.

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I tried to convince myself that the hermies, and making seeds was just a genetic thing and not really my fault, but I have to be honest and admit that I have a bad habit of stressing my plants to the limit - repeatedly!

If I could truly master the art of LITFA - and - remember when I turn critical bit of equipment OFF, I would be a much better grower. :smiley:

Thank you sir! Appreciate the compliments! Yeah, I am really glad I found the delavan nozels. So far, they seem to be working really well. The biggest plus is they need very low air pressure to work so less compressor run times. They are a lot quieter than the Amazon nozzles too. Im sure its the lower air pressure causing that.

Iā€™ll answer the nutes question belowā€¦

Yes, I have tried different nutes. I tried Fox Farm briefly. I had used FF in my first soil grow and it did ok, but there are too many organics in it and it left ā€˜stuffā€™ that clogged my filters.

I also did several weeks with AN Advanced three part nutes with ā€œPerfect PHā€. The AN did have significantly better PH control, but I saw no difference as far as bacterial growth or algae.

As far as bacteria and algae are concerned, food is food and they are perfectly happy to eat any nute I stick in there.

The PH control with the AN nutes was better than mega crop, but still wasnt able to keep my PH under control. It wasnt worth the extra cost of the AN nutes for the slightly better PH control - especially considering it still didnt really provide enough control to work. The cost difference is huge.

On my last HPA grow, the only thing that worked even moderately well for PH stability was adding MES buffer, but thats a $$ option as well.

Ive mentioned this before, but I live in the Pacific North West in Wa state. My home is out in the boonies and I am surrounded on all sides by an actual rain forest. The ground is literally feet thick with old decaying pine cones, and needles. It rains a LOT, so humidity stays up most of the time. I am constantly fighting mold, mildew, and fungus growth around the house and yard where things stay damp and dont get enough sun - which is most of the year. So my environment is full of spores for all that crap.

Three things are making a difference.

One - fanatical light control with the rez, and all tubing and fittings that move water/nute mix. This is keeping algae from forming in the rez and tubing. It really does take being paranoid and fanatical to work though.

Two - keeping the rez temps under 65 F. This seems to help PH control a LOT. When ever I let the temp climb, the PH goes up. The lower temps allow for more C02 to stay dissolved in the water which keeps the PH down.

Three - is running a sterile rez. Beneficial bacteria has not worked for me at all, but the chlorine keeps the bacterial growth under control as long as I keep it up. If I forget to add chlorine every two days or so, it comes back.

Based on all my tests, and reading, both algae and bacterial growth raise the PH. The first sign of bacterial growth is a sudden increase in PH. That has always been followed very quickly by cloudy water and bad smells if I dont jump on it ASAP.

Mega Crop isnt perfect, but so far I have not found anything that works significantly better for anywhere near the same costs. The convenience and simplicity of a one part powder is also a huge plus to me. Its a real pain to use a three part nute in comparison.

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Forgot to ask - what issues did you have with Mega Crop? Were you running in soil or hydro?

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Well hereā€™s the haul from the 3 ghost toof. Way more than I thought as they took over the tent. Stuff I thought were the alaskan purple were actually these


The tote weighs 12lb lol thatā€™s fresh off the plants so Iā€™m hoping for at least 3lb dried

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Wow! Nice haul and good looking nugs!

How many plants was that total and how many days from seed?

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@Jellypowered has a good point. Particularly that Megacrop has molasses in it. I had trouble using an organic CalMag product that contained molasses.

GH 3-part is pretty cheap and redily available. Itā€™s what I use in my E&F.

Of course that wont help you remember to turn the pump back on.

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I live in Washington State as well, not quite in the boonies but close enough to feel your pain.

I experienced constantly rising pH, some sort of bio-sediment, cloudiness (bacteria bloom?), and symptoms of severe nutrient imbalance by the end of the third week of flower every single time.

Plus, it was a pain in the rear to get a consistent mix when only doing small batches, it seems to be best when mixing larger volumes (and mixing a concentrated stock solution like theyā€™ve suggested a few times was a freaking disaster, what a waste).

Hydrogen peroxide did absolutely nothing, keeping the reservoir (in coco, flood and drain to answer one of your questions) in complete darkness slowed it almost imperceptibly, and pool shock couldnā€™t keep up.

After going back to Jackā€™s (3.6g Jackā€™s Hydro, 2.4g CalNit, 1.2g Epsom, all per gallon) I still use the pool shock, but everything is stable, clean, and healthy.

I know lots of people do great with Megacrop and I think thatā€™s wonderful because I like the concept and really wanted to love it, but it just didnā€™t work for me and Iā€™m not motivated enough to find a way to make it work.

I know a four part regimen sounds more complicated, but I mix up stock solutions such that itā€™s the same amount of each per gallon, and it takes me like a minute to mix up a new batch.

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Hmmmmmmmm. I didnt know about the molasses or that it could cause issues, but that makes sense. The sugar would be particularly good for bacterial growth I would think.

I just checked and my Cal Mag doesnt say what its made from, but it says ā€œThe core of CalMag OAC is an organic acid complex derived from 9 species of plantsā€

The organic part has me worried now.

Did you find a brand that doesnt have organics/molassis in it?

I wonder if your water is like mine. With just plain water, after I drop the PH, it climbs with any agitation or aeration or even just sitting still in an open jug. Its much worse when I have bacteria or algae.

Thats exactly what was happening to me when I started HPA growing. I decided it was mainly due to wild PH swings, and root damage from leaving the misters off.

This time, the leaves look great and have not shown any of the same issues I had last time. The exception is when I forgot to turn on the misters and the roots died back severely. Then I had obvious leaf signs and almost dead plants.

I should say not until today, but Iā€™ll go into that laterā€¦more root damage in this case.

Yeah, I gave up on pre-mixing because I kept getting growths in the water. I assumed it was just more of my crappy water issue. Plus, I wasnt all that careful to store the pre-mix out of the light.

I solved the mixing small batches problem by grinding the Mega Crop in a coffee grinder. No more worried about those chunks and it dissolves almost instantly now.

Ok, between @Jellypowered and @ReikoX and you, I think I will take a look at the Jacks.

I assume the Cal Nit gives you the extra calcium and the epsom the magnesium?

Edit: whats the ā€˜Dā€™ part - the pool shock?

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The jacks only comes in 25 pound bags for over $60 at the cheapest. 25 pounds will last me about 10 years!

I found a re-seller on Etsy selling 4 pound ā€œkitsā€

https://www.etsy.com/listing/701134812/4lb-kit-jacks-321-hydroponic-fertilizer?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Jacks+321+Hydroponic+Fertilizer&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1&frs=1

Does this look like the same products youā€™re using @Howard.Crane?

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Yes, those are the ones I use. Gonna see if I can attach my notesā€¦

Jacks Hydro (Updated) - Mixing, Dosing, and Stock Solution.pdf (71.1 KB)

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Excellent! I just ordered the kit, and yes, the instructions came through just fine.

Last question - for now - what is the part D you have above - pool shock?

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Yes, that happens to me as well. Especially with strong agitation/aeration. The tap water quality here is actually quite good, but thereā€™s almost no buffering ability.

Yes, the CalNit gives Nitrogen and Calcium, and the Epsom supplies the extra magnesium that Iā€™ve found helpful when growing in coco under LED lighting.

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Yeah, pool shock. I just kept with the lettering system to keep things easier for my aging stoner brain, lol.

Btw, Iā€™ve found that with my tap water, I do not need to adjust the pH after mixing, and that it stays pretty stable.

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