hello, everybody! I am the grower formerly known as Delta9nxs. Welcome to a PPK style grow and pheno hunt of BlueStarseedco.com’s new cross of Blue Star x Triangle Kush.
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first, a few pics of the debutantes. i have just transplanted them from 2.5 quart containers into these 4 gal totes.
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I’ll be interested in watching this one. I’m growing his Deathstar x Blue Star (Deathstar bx), and the ISS x Blue Star. I’m just about to flip them. Right now they are beautiful plants. I’m super stoked for these! Best vibes, bro! 
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welcome aboard! thank you!
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That sounds like a very awesome cross you’re doing. Beautiful flowers!
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Very cool, looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labour my friend I’ll gladly follow along. Also have been intrigued by @Josh_Blue work since he came to GLG and a bit before. Thanks for sharing
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Also intrigued by your setup there @greyfader very unique and pretty badass looking. Could you elaborate a bit when you have the chance please?
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That looks yummy!
Alright Gf, let’s see what these bad little ladies can do in your ppk system!
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@ TopShelfTrees1 hi, nice to meet you! what you are looking at here is a version of the PPK hydroponic flow pattern.
it is not a specific build but a flow pattern that can be built any size.
it is a closed loop recirculating system.
it is an idea i came up with in 2009 and have been working on ever since.
it combines a continuous 24/7 sub-irrigation/drain with a timed, pulsed, quantified top watering system.
sounds complicated but it’s very simple once you see one.
i have grown indoor trees with it. both upright and single plant scrogs. 2.5-3 lb plants were common. some 4-5 lbs.
also, SOG grows, and multi-plant scrogs.
i have plumbed out 10k sq ft rooms with it. all automated.
i have a whole bunch of threads over at eyesoremag but i’ll show the build on this one first.
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hey buddy! it took me long enough but i wanted to get the very best ones.
for those that don’t know Josh is the breeder of this plant.
maybe we can get him to talk about it a little.
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This sounds like a good one! Love my blue star grape juice cocktail so far. This would be a nice cross.
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Great grow you’ve got going there buddy!
Very neat setup and your plants are sure looking happy.
I’ve been running blueberry my last run and this time I’m running Blue Gelato41. The flavor of berries is something im definitely hooked onto from now on…🫐🍒
I’ve read great things on the Triangle Kush as well.
Will grab a seat and wishing you the best on this run…
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thank you all for the warm welcomes!
i thought i would talk about the seeds a little bit. Josh sent me 50 to hunt through.
i began germinating on feb 26 and had 48 pop within 2 days, which is a 96% germ rate.
i took the first 36 to pop in waves of 12 as they developed 1/2" tails.
they went into the ubiquitous solo cups first in wick-fed perlite.
i grew them out for about 2.5 weeks, culling weaker plants, under low light conditions and then transplanted 14 of them to 2.5 quart wick-fed containers.
about 2.5 weeks there and then the final 12 into these 4 gal totes.
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I like kid pools for overflow. Haven’t seen that before but cool.
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i’m in a rented 80 yr old farmhouse while i’m building a house about 5 miles away. even though it’s falling apart i don’t want any leaks.
each pool you see is really two pools nested. belts and suspenders.
i’ve built small recirculating systems in them using smaller containers for reservoirs, but in this grow they are the reservoirs.
because of the diameter they hold 24 gals at 3", which is the level i’m using here.
the input and crossover hoses go through the pools sidewalls 3" above the waterline so it’s all virtually leakproof.
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I dig it, thanks for sharing
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we are about a week from transplant from 2.5 quart to 4 gal containers. they were passively fed from the bottom with a little hand watering the tops in the 2.5 qt containers then into the active ppk system. they are responding nicely.
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just a little pictorial showing how the system is made. the float valve controls the water level.
the surface of the medium is 13" above the floor.
the support containers below each plant are 7" high. the solution level is 3".
This leaves a 4" "air gap between the bottom of the plant container and the solution.
the tube protruding into the solution is 6" long and the bottom 2" of it stays wet allowing capillary rise to feed the plant from below.
this represents a 24/7 hydraulic hook-up between the plant and nutrient solution.
the top watering apparatus is timed by a repeat cycle timer to fire the 700 gph pumps (one in each pool) on a schedule. right now they are getting about a quart in 20 seconds every 2 hours.
there exists in every plant container, immediately after a watering event, a perched water table.
this is a body of water held up by the medium against the force of gravity. this PWT can only be eliminated by transpiration and evaporation.
this is because of waters cohesion and adhesion. cohesion is waters attraction to itself and adhesion is waters attraction to other substances.
this is why you cannot water a conventional container 12 times a day. the plant will drown if you do not allow it to use up the solution in the bottom of the container.
the PPK device positively drains the PWT from the medium immediately after each pulsed delivery of solution.
this is because the perched water table is moved from the plant container down into the tailpiece tube.
the perched water table exists at the same height in any shape container. it is a function of particle size. most plant growing media will support a perched water table. the finer the particle size the greater the volume of the PWT.
so by moving the PWT from the main plant container down into the capillary rise, drainage tube we radically reduce the volume of the PWT. it will still exist but it is greatly reduced in volume.
this, in turn, keeps the most of the roots out of the saturated zone.
the medium here is chunky perlite which is loaded first. this material and sizing makes an extremely aerated media structure that has an air-filled capacity of about 30-35%.
i then add 1 lb worm castings and 1/2 cup of diatomaceous earth and work them into the top 2". this adds a substantial CEC or cation exchange capacity and retains more moisture in the top of the medium.
oxygen is the turbocharger in this system. the roots sit in an ideal medium for growth.
the root zone is an interface of roots, water, air, and nutrients. this device keeps the ideal balance between these elements of the rhizosphere.
this system is a closed loop, recirculating system.
i do not remove any solution from the system during a grow. it is all input only.
in this system the nutrient solution could be completely anaerobic and the plant will still grow just fine.
this is because the plant is deriving it’s oxygen from the ambient air instead of water.
two theoretical identical containers, one full of water and one full of air, both at sea level at 68f.
the container with air will have 23,300 times more free oxygen molecules than the water filled one at maximum saturation.
the act of watering stimulates plant growth by removing old, depleted gas by displacement and drawing in new fresh gas as the solution drains from the container.
we have found that this combination of a 24/7 sub-irrigation with a timed, quantified, pulsed delivery of solution from the top keeps the medium in an ideal band of parameters for a longer period of time than traditional containers.
this device, used in this fashion, has a synergistic effect on plant growth.
it is also extremely redundant with almost no failure points. if the electricity goes off the plant will simply back-feed from the reservoir and will grow just fine.
it will not produce as large of a plant if operated passively only but it will be a beautiful, healthy plant anyway.
this device allows the operator to fine tune the moisture content in the medium using three tools.
first, the extent of the capillary rise can be controlled by the float valve. By raising or lowering the solution under the plant you can control the capillary rise and therefore the moisture distribution curve which is set by gravity, drier at the top and wetter at the bottom.
second, using the repeat cycle timer, you can adjust the duration and therefore volume of the pulsed top watering event.
third, again using the timer, you can adjust the interval between watering events.
by observing the plant and adjusting these 3 tools you can keep the root zone in an ideal state.
this device eliminates ph swings caused by nutrient buildup because the root zone is never allowed to dry down and the microscopic movement of solution ensures that diffusion is always working.
well, that’s enough for now.
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