This is a wild one for sure… I had several “growth tips” that are shooting for the stars and they are mostly too stiff to weave through the trellis so i just used the trellis as a tie down point and some of the velcro tape to tie it over.
Before
You can see several are almost touching the light and will force the light up if I let them and I don’t have much more vertical space available - maybe 8-10 inches or so.
I finally got around to pruning the undergrowth below the canopy… here’s some upskirt shots for you pervs! Yes, there is a bit left there in the pic but I cleaned her on up.
Have the trellis in place early - anticipate! I will definitely be building a PVC framed screen with legs for the next grow and have it in place from the beginning!
FlopTek
A week or so ago I “flopped” the growth tips over using what I fondly refer to as @Mr.Sparkle’s FlopTek (see previous post). Here are some recovery shots… It knuckles right up !
Yeah brother, they are loving the strips, RGT, and the mega crop! Anything goes bad it’hs on me lol! Next update I’ll include some stem shots, they are fat!
So things are coming along very nicely, I just upped nutes to approx. 27.5g to 5 gallons of water as described by Greenleaf’s MegaCrop nutrient calculator on their website. The plants are loving the MegaCrop. I have noticed just the slightest tip burn with upping the nutes so I may back off ever so slightly at next rez change. Which, for those wondering, my 5 gallon bucket reservoir has been lasting 3-4 days with the 3x 3 gallon smart pots.
Things are starting to come together nicely and after finally getting the carbon filter hooked up with the help of some of that foil ducting tape I must say it works surprisingly well!
2 of the 3 plants have these root patches. However this one is by far the larger of the two. Easily a couple inches across, and has bulged the surface of the coco mix. I’ve pressed down on it and it is solid. It’s like the plant version of an IV drip. @Jellypowered also mentioned he sees this with his Blumats as well.
And that’s about it, everything is going pretty nicely. I am experiencing some of the sediment after a couple days with the MegaCrop that has been mentioned elsewhere and it can start to build up and restrict flow in the 3mm Blumat drip lines. To remedy this I have ordered a mesh bag used in home-brewing to basically line the 5 gallon bucket I use as a reservoir… To filter out the sediment stuff and make for easy cleaning at rez change.
Thanks, they are turning out very nice! Can’t say I’m not excited! The pics are all taken with my trusty ol Samsung Galaxy S7. Freshly de-smudged lens too thanks to @Mr.Sparkle lol. I usually use the flash even under the strips, and I bounce back and forth between the camera’s HDR mode. I’d like to get a decent DSLR camera, but alas that’s still a wish list item.
I am very interested in seeing how well that mesh bag works, as I’ve not yet been able to resolve that problem fully in my setup. Everything is looking great so far, good job!
I also had the idea of getting one of those fine mesh generic drop in screens for like a bathroom sink and gluing it or whatever over the bulkhead fitting on the inside of the bucket… but that might be annoying to clean. I will report back though once I’ve got the bag in place and let you and everyone else know how it works out.
RE: Something is causing slight clogs/flow restriction in my 3mm Blumat drip lines…
While I am getting some sediment from the MegaCrop, I do not think that is the culprit. After a day or two (from rez change) I am getting this floating in the nute solution:
All I had handy was a small spoon with some MegaCrop residue still on it, but I used that to dip some out of the water… so ignore the brown/red/orangish crap:
After some discussion with some guys on the Discord server, we decided it was most likely algae/diatoms/something in that category. Due to the fact that I am cleaning and changing the rez out every 4 days or so I have been keeping it at bay for the most part, but it is causing some problems with the 3mm lines.
So, what to do?
I decided to start of by adding 3% H2O2 to my rez at approximately 10ml per gallon, and this happened:
It clumped up and a lot of it sunk from the surface. So I think we are probably correct in that it is biological in nature. So per the advice of @Mr.Sparkle who suggested a “dead rez”, I will be going out to get some pool shock, aka, calcium hypochlorite. The higher the concentration the better… seems to range from 50ish% to 73% being the highest concentration. Be careful though because some pool shock products use a different active chemical. This is the stuff you use when your swimming pool is turning green and you need to get it back clear on the quick, so it should have no problem with a 5 gallon rez.
Alternatively, I could use H2O2, but it is more expensive. I also still have the filter bag that is supposed to arrive tomorrow. One way or another this problem is getting remedied ASAP. I want to be able to leave for a week and be confident.
I have the same floating “smegma”. Never had it before MegaCrop. When I removed the lid off res. last night it had an odd, somewhat foul odor. My res is only 5 gal but I’m stirring by hand at the bottom to dislodge sediment. I love MegaCrop results but this stuff is an annoying PIA. The sediment doesn’t bother me as much as the floating “smegma”.
Yes, there is a bit left there in the pic but I cleaned her on up.
!
The pics are all taken with my trusty ol Samsung Galaxy S7. Freshly de-smudged lens too thanks to 
I usually use the flash even under the strips, and I bounce back and forth between the camera’s HDR mode. I’d like to get a decent DSLR camera, but alas that’s still a wish list item.
