OK, how long do male flowers have to develop before they splooge?
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Depends.
One useful trick, nod to @ReikoX, is to give them two nights of 12/12 about now, then revert to 18/6 or whatever veg lighting.
That can cause them to show sex early. Well, maybe, a few weeks early IME. Worth tryin.
Otherwise, stress over it like the rest of us Brother. One of the âjoysâ of Canna cultivation. They show when they show⌠
-Grouchy
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Day 24:
DLI = 30
Decided not to top the 2 shorter ones, they had a spurt of growth and are trying. I dont know what the growth habit of these Autos are yet. Topping makes plants bush out more, not sure I want that to happen given the plant density,
Made myself a little treat. 1.5g of flower rosin⌠Yummmmmmmmy!
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How is that Guardian working for ya? I canât seem to keep a Bluelab ph meter happy⌠and Iâm not buying a 4th.
Is it upgradable to monitor two reservoirs? I went autopot in one of the tents, itâs working out so well I want another system.
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Not sure yet, I will let you know this weekend. I will have had it in service a month and will check calibration when I change the rez this weekend.
No, not upgrade-able to multi ports.
I do love the real time display though, saves a lot of bending over taking samples.
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Looking good. Glad to see that midget still in the game.
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OK, so this is how much growth advantage I got out of 30 days with the AC. Without the AC I couldnt have started the tent until this week.We will see how I feel about it after I see the Dominion bill for this month.
Oh, and the near beer can is just for scale. It is some crap my wife got. I was like âWhyâ?
Day 30:
Did a rez change and general inspection.
The stems are fat around as a Sharpie. They are prepared to support some weight.
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Electrons are pricey, no doubt⌠but on the other hand Iâm producing heinous bud for between $20-$40 per ounce. When I price that against the junk they are selling at the dispensary it makes me smile!
Youâre gonna nail it on this grow brother!
-Grouchy 
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Fascinating article:
https://www.science.org/content/article/oldest-evidence-marijuana-use-discovered-2500-year-old-cemetery-peaks-western-china
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Looking good. They grow up so quick. Another 10 days in veg and you will be contending with some monsters.
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Day 34:
Struggling with phâŚ
I am using General Hydroponics nutes this time, I am considering going back to Dynagro. I can settle it at a pH of 5.6 and 8 hours later the pH is up to 6.6, with falling water and a static TDS, which seems normal albeit an awfully fast swing. It makes me nervous as previous experience with Dynagro the swings took a lot more time to occur.
I am running at 850 ppm (actually 700 if you offset the city tds) and seeing just a tick of tip-burn so I am afraid to bump it up any more yet.
I have been inching my VPD up a bit as I think I am starting to see pre-flower, although not identifiable yet.
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Greetings @MrWizard,
Iâm still a novice with hydro, learning the ropes with those little micro octopots, but the one aspect that I find most perplexing is establishing and maintaining proper pH.
Iâm looking for education and I wonder if youâd take a minute to lay out your basic approach to controlling pH?
Why do the big swings happen in the first place? My octopups donâ't use aeration at all but the pH still changes.
The swings are always upwards in my case, 5.5 â 7 during the course of a week or three. Are the swings always towards acidity?
Do you generally need to correct pH on a continual basis? Is there something better than the General Hydro pH UP & DOWN to make adjustments?
Has anybody used a measured chemical pump to continually adjust in a controlled way?
Any comments would be helpful.
-Grouchy
PS, I also plan to ask @BU2B how he approaches pH, I think heâs got it completely dialed.
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Just for another opinion in the mix here you goâŚ
I run rdwc and use GH maxibloom with RO water. I let my pH swing as high as 7 and as low as 6. If I start seeing a overnight pH drop it generally means I let my rez gets too warm and I have a nasty bacteria in the water.
Personally I wouldnât touch your pH as long as your between 6-7. Lots of folks forget but different micro and macronutrients uptake better or worse at different PHS also depending on temperature. In fact a lot of people that grow and hydro want the pH to swing within a range to make sure theyâre getting all of their micros and macros. Just some food for thought
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That is a very helpful perspective @CosmoNut. I have looked at the nute uptake charts and it seems like pretty much everything can be utilized by our plants in that 6-7 range. I just assumed that there was something different about hydro that requires a lower and tighter pH for hydro.
I wonder if my hydro gurus agree with you?
Hope Iâm not imposing too much on your thread Mr. WizâŚ
-Grouchy
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Not at all, it is very relevant!
M
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Yeah man this is the old chart I use on my âtower of powerâ
Hopefully others will offer there experience so we can try to reach the best conclusion.
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Basically, the nutrients are acidic, so they tend to drive the pH down. When a plant eats heavily, there are fewer nutrients, so the pH rises as the EC drops.
Those products should work well.
Yes, you can automate pH as well as EC using something like a Dosatron. They are expensive and intended for commercial sized grow facilities.
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My swings are currently upwards. But I do remember that in my first rDWC grow the pH direction changing at some point during flower and started drifting down.
I am correcting when it gets above 6.5pH which right now is about twice a day.
My basic approach to pH is as follows.
I maintain water temps at 67F, it is very stable given current ambient conditions. There is a heater and an evaporative fan for temp control.
When changing the res I add the nutes to achieve my desired PPM.
I then adjust pH to 5.5 or so after 15 minutes of circulation. I am using the General Hydro pH Up/Down products.
I then let it drift between 5.5 and 6.5.
Once it hits 6.5 I add some more pH down to bring it back down to 5.x pH.
UNLESSâŚ.
If the TDS dropped then I will add nutes to adjust TDS first, then adjust the pH.
Then let it drift again.
When I used Dynagro on my first grow, I found the swing to take about 24 hours.
This go around the swing is taking 8 hours.
I am following this chart for the nutes, currently maintaining about 700ppm, 850 on the meter but City water is about 150ppm. The lighter side of the range.
The chart I am following for nute uptake estimation is this:
But that is another ambiguity as all these charts are different.
Compare the magnesium and phosphorus, and others, from the chart about to this chart. What is one to believe?
pH questions I have:
What are the extremes of pH in rDWC that would cause a lockout? At what point will pH negatively affect the plants?
These General Hydroponics formulas vs Dynagro, does one or the other have pH buffers that could be mitigating drift. If so, what is it buffered to.
How long does âtypicalâ drift cycle normally take?
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