Hello all, this grow journal will be starting from Week 2 Flower. Been meaning to post this from the beginning but I haven’t gotten around to it until now.
My motivation for experimenting and attempting this is because… I’m lazy and new at this. Or rather, I didn’t want to spend so much time fretting or worrying about getting things right. The main goal is to develop a cost-effective, hands-free method as reasonably possible.
Grow Details
- The method is essentially a kratky style grow but with air stones. The buckets go unsupervised until the water level reaches about 1/5.
- Strain is Terpgasm by Solfire Gardens
- Medium in the pot is 50/50 coco coir and rice hulls. I used kitchen towel paper to prevent it from leaking into the reservoir too much. Buckets are 20L.
- Nutrient used is Masterblend 5-11-26, this is similar to Jack’s 321. However I’ve tweaked this recipe based on scientific studies using hydrobuddy. Nutrient Recipe
- Silica and beneficial bacteria are added before mixing the nutrients in the bucket.
- For the most part, I haven’t really tried controlling the environment/vpd. I live in a tropical climate area and electricity would become expensive for me to maintain an ideal environment. On average the growing conditions is 28C and 70% RH.
- 2x4 Tent with MarsHydro SP3000 LED (300W)
- EC is measured with a cheap china EC meter and pH strips. Tap water is about EC@0.2
Notable Findings So Far (up to week 1 flower)
- For the first reservoir, I fill it up to the brim just before the pot with EC@1.4 and somwhere between 5~6pH. Reservoir lasted about a month and I left it alone. No deficiencies or toxicity issues have been found at this stage. Once the water level has gone down to 1/5, instead of draining it, I decided to refill it with EC@1.6
- 2nd Reservoir has been depleted in about 2 weeks. Plant has shown signs of leaf tips yellowing (possibly light stress) but other than that is quite healthy. However, I decided to measure the EC as I was curious and it measured EC@3.6. Quite surprising so I decided to keep draining the rez before refilling from now on.
- 3rd reservoir fill I put in the same as last time (EC@1.6, 5.8pH?). This has lasted about 1.5 weeks. Plant is still healthy, I’ve been mainlining and pruning it for a while now. Drained water measured at EC@1.7 with 6pH
- With the 4th reservoir fill I’ve switched to 12/12 light schedule. Plant doubled in height in a week’s time. Did not do any lollipopping because I forgot. RH was at the high 80s because it was raining. No signs of stress so far. Drained water measured EC@2.8
Today I refilled the reservoir for both buckets. My original plan was to adjust the EC input based on what the run-off EC but since the plants show no signs of issues whatsoever, I decided to put in the full dose and dump EC@1.8
