Basement hempy with sils, lots of beans, “breakfast weed”

[potpotpot]

@minitiger

I’m assuming they also have, like, another “layer of protection” or something? Like some Panda Film or something?

Not really, no. You can see the post of the wire rack to the left of the pics, and a bit of panda film from the area where I have the Doc d plants. The wire rack is totally open on that side except for a couple pieces of white composite sign material blocking most of the light, and when I dropped the table in the other part I never added to the panda film that was there, so it is more or less open. I’ll take a pic tonight with lights on to give a better idea. In the winter I do hang some blackout curtains over the door to keep the heat in to a degree, buts it’s off for the summer. Probably could get away with putting it back up, now that I think about it.

That’s funny stuff about having your girl zip you into the tent, I plan to have my wife do the same thing (whenever I decide where the tent is gonna go).

And yeah, panda film definitely breaks down with exposure to light. Kinda strange considering being exposed to light is like, it’s only job haha.

[potpotpot]

@HorseBadorites

kinda go with the thought if you can’t read a newspaper, it’s dark enough… good luck finding a paper

I’ve heard that before, but never spent the 20 mins down there waiting to let my eyes adjust. It’s way less bright than a full moon night, that’s for sure.

[potpotpot]

So here’s a light on shot so you can see how open everything is. You can even see the blackout curtains I mentioned, neatly stored on top of the wire rack “tent”.

[potpotpot]

Not stoked about how these tips are getting all ugly and brown. Seems “fungussy” though I see nothing other than dry plant material there. This is the weird puffy PCB X A5HT.

[HorseBadorites]

Rootbound?

[potpotpot]

Good point, almost certainly haha. Been slowly happening for a couple weeks, one leaf at a time. Now it’s accelerating. But I guess that makes sense haha. None of the other plants are affected, so I’m just gonna ignore it till this weekend.

Not related, but these are some leafy ass buds!

[Mr.Sparkle]

P excess by the looks of it, are you still feeding or have transitioned to straight water and hows the runoff pH or ec wise, just looks like the buds are near or at their done stage too.

[potpotpot]

I fed basically to the end. Most recent watering was straight tap. Don’t really water again before I chop. Gonna chop Saturday morning, the moment I chop it I will run some tap through the pot and see what the runoff is. That’ll still offer some clues right?

Despite growing with salts for a while now, I’m still averse to runoff, so I rarely water enough to get an amount worth testing. Probably a good habit to get into as I get further from dirt.

[potpotpot]

Speaking of getting further from dirt…

[HorseBadorites]

You gonna join us coconutters?

[potpotpot]

Or (and?) kill plants trying!

[Mr.Sparkle]

Well that will happen regardless lol.

[potpotpot]

I know, hoping I can kill them on my schedule I guess haha.

So tested the runoff.
Tap went in ph 6.6 ppm 175
Runoff ph 6.2 ppm 1782
For reference my normal feed is ph 6.2 ppm 569. My notes show that my tap was 6.4 last time I checked it, months ago, I was actually shooting to feed at 6.0. Also, the plants are in Roots mixed with perlite, so idk if that runoff is reliable and a sign I need to feed to runoff more, or if it is just showing the food in the soil.

[potpotpot]

Edit because I’m dumb and its early haha. Can’t even keep the plants straight!
Pulled the first PCB X A5HT . Leeeafy!

[HorseBadorites]

@potpotpot

so idk if that runoff is reliable and a sign I need to feed to runoff more

Coco should be quite an adventure for you then!

I never found reading runoff to be anything other than chasing my tail… dizzying, yet getting nowhere!

[potpotpot]

@HorseBadorites

Coco should be quite an adventure for you then!

Oh I’m willing to bet haha. I’ve got some jars put aside right now, so it seemed like the time to try something new!

[HorseBadorites]

Step #1: rinse that coco righteously!

[Mr.Sparkle]

runoff is beneficial if you have buildup or are consistently feeding for you though thats just whats in the soil mix though plants have an exchange with the root zone as thats how they pick up water and nutrients and as they start nearing their end they end up spiking the root zone EC wise and if they haven’t had the occasional runoff or your not countering that somehow such as say in coco you go to very low feed or straight water in the last week or two then it can build up and actually cause the plant to have issues.

[potpotpot]

@HorseBadorites

Step #1: rinse that coco righteously!

So when you say rinse, do you mean until runoff with whatever my feed is each time I water, or an actual rinse with plain ph’d water? I know I’ll have to water to runoff each time. The option to rinse with plain water as a “reset” is one of the big draws for me, just don’t know if that is reserved for when I see problems and need a reset, or a routine thing that should be happening.

@Mr.Sparkle

for you though thats just whats in the soil mix though

Ok, that’s kind of what I figured, that in this case I was just seeing what’s in the soil mix come through.

When I first started with the hempy buckets I was watering to 10%runoff every time, but as time went on I got comfortable (read: complacent) and watered just until the res was full. Then when I uppotted these plants I didn’t have anything on hand to make 6 matching hempy buckets from, so said the hell with it and went with normal pots. And went right back to my old, soily ways haha.

[HorseBadorites]

@potpotpot

So when you say rinse, do you mean until runoff with whatever my feed is each time I water, or an actual rinse with plain ph’d water?

An actual rinse with plain water. I use blocks, like you showed. Coconuts grow along the ocean, and a lot of coir is dried right on the beach, so there’s some salt around. I don’t really trust that it’s been removed before it’s packed up.

I have to expand it first anyway, so I put it in a tote with some holes in the bottom (our recycling bins are the perfect size, and have holes), and run our well water through it until the goezoutta ppms are the same as the goezinta. It also washes out a lot of the coco fines, which seem to make the coco pack more densely than I like. I don’t pH, or buffer.

@potpotpot

The option to rinse with plain water as a “reset” is one of the big draws for me

Me too, but that’s flushing I don’t use plain water for that though. I use 1/4 strength nutes in RO water for that. Apparently, the weak nute solution binds to the excess salts that are causing the problem that’s making you flush in the first place, and washes them out. I use 3x the pot’s size worth of solution.

I put in a cheap RO Buddy system because our well water sucks for hydro… high Total Alkalinity, and can’t keep a stable pH.

Going for a good runoff in coco is important for a couple of reasons. It helps flush out any excess salts (nutes in this case), and it draws oxygen into the root zone. Coco can hold about 30% O2, and I really think it helps to keep it fresh. I sling the feeds through pretty quickly, thinking that pulls more O2 in, but I don’t really know.

I grew in hempies for a while, and runoff is pretty much the same principal. Pull in a bunch of O2 and replace the stale rez with fresh grub.

I use cheap nutes, and can throw the waste on our flowers and shrubs, so I go for a lot of runoff.

It took me a while to get the fact that coco is hydro… it seems so dirtlike )