Mapito Eb & Flood - HLG starfleet - Strain Judging

I’m an definitely getting an education here

Between @ifish and @eskobar I may learn how to use mapito in Octopots ?
Not sure if it’s doable

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We can have a look to make that work. I dont know octopots but i have heard of them

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I definitely would like to give that a try but I will it do this until I get back on my feet in the meantime I watch everything thanks

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This the same @eskobar that used to have seeds available? If so , LONG TIME my friend. I know we are in for some epic growing. I’ve been contemplating this Mapito for SO LONG! @ifish has been nudging me also. Just started a new room/setup. Perhaps it’s time to give a crate a shot. Welcome bro, I’m sure you’ll love it here.

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Hello @TopShelfTrees1, yes this is me. I had seeds at Sannies, Seeddepot and Cannazon in the past. I also helped out some other brands.
Thank you for the welcome. I do like it here, everybody is friendly and the focus is on growing without bs. Everybody doing his thing, i love that. Opinions are very much respected here.
A new room/setup, you make me curious. I am always interested. If you have a topic here i will search it because i want to see that

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TopShelfs trees Right here my friend, just moved so I’m slowly getting stuff running again. All new to me. Looking forward to having you here. You sir are a helluva grower and a welcome e addition.

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Thank you for the kind words @TopShelfTrees1
I come to stay & show, talk and look our beloved plants.
All of us do our best with the gear and knowledge we have.

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Welcome to overgrow. Look forward to seeing you around. It’s a chill spot here. This post caught my attention. Like the way you think.

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Thank you @rooted.

TL1 unit has run all nite with a bleach solution + superhot water. (without the crates)
Mineral buildup, bad bacteria, dust/dirt = everything is clean on the table and in the rez.
Allot of tapwater has been used to rinse all bleach.
Supaclean, thats how it starts. A job that has to be done every time.
The mapito crates have been rinsed with plenty of tap water to reset.


I flush/reset the mapito on the table itself where it drains in the rez. The rez pumps it to waste constantly.
The mapito is not ready yet, it must leak out more for few hours and heat up again.
The flushed mapito is ready when the drain water returns exactly the same values like the tap water.
So the EC meter + the Teros 12 sensor are activated constantly to have a visual on that.

A booster kit has been installed to hang a decent netting and reinforcement.

The rez is now heating up with clean tapwater. When the mapito is heated up from the cold tapwater rinse and the rez is on temperature (24 C at startwatering fase) the planting can begin.
The first rez is ment to set the EC and PH on point.
The mapito will be rinsed with this solution to plant:

Basic veg nutrients for hydro at 0.5 ec (above the tapwater)
Rootstim
Enzymes
PH at 5.6

After the flushing with this solution, i dump it to drain. Always. The only dump i do in the entire cycle.
It gets dumped because from experience i know the values are very unstable for further flooding.

Once again, the rez will get cleaned after planting and filled with tapwater that needs to heat up.
And then … we are off!

New data tech toys are on the way … more info coming soon.

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Sorry I am just trying to understand… you only drain to waste once per cycle? I like that for sure. I get uncomfortable sometimes with people putting fertilizers down the drains all through the growing cycle. Bad for the environment. I know most of us are small compared to big agriculture but still. This is so cool… thanks for showing us your grow. Its unique for sure!

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@eskobar I want to ask about your last post. You rinse mapito after use with straight tap water not pH adjusted? Water here is pretty alkaline 7.8 pH and EC around 0.5 mS.

I am using the 20kg sacks of grodan granulate.

When flushing the medium, run off is always very high. For example, if I use 5.5 pH to flush, I will get 6.5 pH runoff or even more. I experimented using really low pH inputs. For example I soaked the dry rockwool granulate in 2.5 pH and flush with 4.0. I got a decently low pH runoff but when I flushed with 5.6 to prepare before inserting clones, my drain was again high. Over time the pH rises and the last drops of drain are again over 6.5

This confused me a lot and caused me to hurt my plants very much in the past because I decided to feed with 4.0 pH to combat pH rise focusing too much on drain values.

This time around I just flush and flood with 5.7 and things look good.

I would love for you to explain a little bit. Thank you so much and I am very glad you are back. I have million more questions but try to hold back to not overwhelm you.

P.S. I see no PU foam in your mapito.

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Already a wealth of information on here. :pray:t2: I am 100% going to try a crate as @ifish and a couple others have inspired and even nudged me. Appreciate any and all info you are willing to give. I really am.

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I was trying to scour those crates looking for the foam. What exactly is in yours? @eskobar

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Hello guys, thanks for your interest in my system.

My mapito is Cutilene Mapito, It has ZERO foam in it, only some long cocos fibres, but very few.

I never use other types. Have tested a few and I only like this one. I actually avoid foam in mapito. Don’t want that.

If you cannot find or buy it. Use rockwool cubes, solitary. They work great. You don’t need the foam.

After cleaning the mapito from last run, where I removed roots as good as possible. (only the thick roots)

Yes, I flush/clean with plain Tap water = 7.4 – 7.5 Ph and EC is 0.6 – 0.7 (depending the temp)

It seems high right, but don’t worry. My tapwater is high quality, it is like Evian but from Tap.

After this flush with tapwater, I let drain the mapito few hours, sometimes even 24h.

In the mean time the cleaned and refilled rez gets up to temp (Tapwater here is now 8C – 46F)

When the rez is on temp and I want to start, I add the nutrients, enzymes and rootstim + ph is set to 5.6

(I have even done it without enzymes and rootstim, it works also)

At this moment I click on a smaller garden hose on the drainpump wich I use when I flushing the mapito.

Once again I flush the crates with mapito, but now with warmer water and the nutrients, rootstim, enzymes on ph 5.6

So in fact, I reset all the crates again to the Rez values now.

When this is done, I put the plants in it and I fire the LED at pretty low PFD, around 275.

From this moment on … no more watering from top. I watch the Volumetric Water Content reducing and I only flood again when this has dropped 25%.

NO dehydrator, I start with high humidity first days. 70- 80% is no problem.

Heat and high humidity is important in the first days.

The first week, nothing much happens visual. Everything happens inside the mapito = rooting.

The PH from the drainwater after first flood, comes back higher. 6 ph is not abnormal.

As soon the roots are starting to get grip and starting to eat nutrients, the PH stabilizes itself and comes back around 5.8 ph (from 5.6 ph rez, always 5.6 ph)

The ph keeps on draining a little higher until somewhere in week 2 flowering, it suddenly comes back equal or lil lower. Boom, that is the sign for me to stop veg nutes and swap to higher PK, flowering nuttrients. PH drop day, I call this. The plant controls its own uptake to eat more flowering nutes. P & K are better uptaked on lower phs, while N needs lil higher ph (than the 5.6 ph I give always)

Yes, I only once dump the rez, just after start. This is because there can be some lose debree or dust inside the water. This first flush rez I make, it never stays stabile.

The rest of the grow? Not one drop of water gets spilled. The rez get steered so I keep on getting 0.1 ec higher back in the drain water. That is my target.

I understand there are allot of questions and we I will try to answer them towards this run will evolve.

It is a big sandwich for me to just put everything straight away.

Some important data to come. PFD from the Apogee, VPD from the Atmos, Rez ec logging vs Pore water EC logging from the ES2 and Teros12.

Comments and questions are welcome, will answer them when I have the time to write a decent reply.

The journey will be fun!

I repeat it again, always say what you think. Positive or Negative, your opinion is very welcome.

The basics of this system is invented from Hennepdesk. He teached me this at young age. It was a spartan regime but the best education, on all levels. Youtube Hennepdesk to understand him …

We are now many years later and I kept modernizing it towards today’s standards.

Have you seen the prices in the dispensaries? Homegrowers are the future, we grow the same (or even better) fire. The smaller, the more easy the overview and control.

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High RH, highest temps possible, 80F to even 85F is not a problem. (i not always reach that in winter)
Start PFD 275 and slowly increase the next two weeks to 800 - 1000 PFD
The Apogee 620 is logging and will show the DLI and PFD charts later.

Inlet air valve is closed
Outlet exhaust valve is 90% closed at this moment.
Forgot to mention this in my post above.

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So why no foam @eskobar , I got foam in mine , do you advise taking it out ?
: )

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Not the best looking starters but you will see they are going to warp speed soon.
I am one week behind shedule.
Black Apple Hitchcock (6), 1 Exodus, several Banana Slammer, Strawberry Rain, La Banana Cake and Watermelon Skitlez.

You can see the graph of the Teros 12 above in a post from me.
The moment the plants are harvested. PWEC does not change allot anymore, nobody on the dinna table.
You can see the moment at the right where i deplugged the sensor to clean the mapito + the flushing with tapwater. I will keep you updated about the data.

@ifish, foam makes it unstable. Ph and Ec. It is to capillary.

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Yes my Mapito is old , not very chunky anymore , the foam kind off gives it some needed bounce : )
Is it because you flood every seven days now with your set up , that the foam needed to be removed , were as I flood every 2-3 days so my ph and ec stays more stable ?
: )

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When your mapito is to mushy, add some % of fresh mapito.
The foam flakes release their water way to slow, so they become unstable. When soaked with water, it also contain very few oxygen, way less than compared to rockwoool.

I do not flood every 7 days. I flood when the VWC is dropped with 25% and later on in flowering i allow bigger VWC drops. Depending on the heat i can build up and how the metabolism is from the plants, the amount of flooding days differ.
TL2 is now also at flooding ritm of 3 days, while the first flood took 9 days.
The first two weeks i put in 5.6 ph (often this is veg) and the return PH is not very important.

In the past, i planted clones in mapito. Flooded every 3 days, that is correct. But the plants went almost straight into flowering. From this TL1 grow, i want some clones from a few in there. I need some plantmass to can do that, in veg mode.
Since i am one week behind shedule, the low nutrient regime i prepare the planters is not exactly what i like. But ok, it is what it is. I show how it is.

I am waiting for some extra data tech to arrive and also something i will upgrade, more light …

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I appreciate your thorough response!! :heart:

When you do the first feed from the top to reset mapito, how many liters compared to volume of crate?

You say you never dump the res after first feed. Do you just top up your res as plants drink and add nutes? How do you deal with cleanliness of res? Walls of res become slippery after 10 days or so and water is less clear. I dump every 14 days and scrub the res with soap. Not neccessary?

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