I had an old thread where I used to post a few bud pics but it ended up in the garbage can section so I’ll start a new one here since I can’t reply to the other one.
Figure I’ll post my embarrassing grow log I recently started since I’ve never done one on here.
I’m still currently at the solo cup stage and am already running into issues (lol). Scraggly twisted leaves and some spotting/chlorosis on some leaves and a really high medium pH.
I had been using coco coir up until this point with pretty good results. I wanted to keep using it but then the Corona hit and messed with the supply chain. The place I used to order online from was no longer selling it and still hasn’t resumed. I was using millenium soils coco ultima. It came dried in bags and was relatively cheap. I tried to find other brands locally online but around here there seems to be only canna and cyco which I find too expensive at around 30 dollars for 50L.
Since peat is mined here it’s extremely cheap. I can get a compressed 3.8cu ft bale of pro mix HP (shit load of perlite, some lime, myco and wetting agent) for 5 dollars more than a small bag of coco. Not only that it is widely avail here so that’s why I switched to it but I’m already having issues which is pretty frustrating.
They’re currently in solo cups and are getting fed RecycleSil at 0.2g/gal, Jack’s Hydroat 3.6g/gal and calcium nitrate at 3.4g/gal I left out the magnesium sulfate because it seems like Jack’s has a decent amount. I have a 44gal brute as a reservoir. I add the nutrients in that order and lower the pH to 5.9 with citric acid. This seemed to work fine with coco but currently the pH of my medium is 6.7-7. I was told the pH of solution isn’t necessarily what changes the pH of the medium it’s the alkalinity of the water and that maybe excessive Ca could be causing some issues. The alkalinity of my water is 30mg/L. The tap water starts out at around pH 9 and after adding the nutrients it goes down to around 6.5 and I lower it to 5.9 with citric acid. Do I need to use more acid to counteract the carbonates/bicarbonates in the nutrients/water and not worry if the pH is like 5?
Sucks I felt pretty confident after a few somewhat smooth coco grows so I popped quite a few seeds shitty to see em all looking sad
A little bit of what I am currently growing: I popped a pack ea of some Hallowed Ground (santa maria/shiva x santa maria/chocolate rain), Berry Nice Plants (santa maria x santa maria/chocolate rain) both by @santero , Aunt Lemon (lemon thai x aunt of farouk), Happy Amnesia v2 (happy brother/amnesia x aunt of farouk) and last but not least some Blue Tara f2s from one of the recent seed runs here.
I added gypsum to my coco to have a slow release sulfur element to help counteract any high alkalinity. I don’t know if this is the right answer just something I’m doing with my high alkaline water.
Also I see you use silica I know it has a high ph. I’ve often thought it would be better to just foliar it, that way it can’t build up in the media.
When i went from t5s for seedlings to hlg 65watt quantum board i had seedling doing the exact same thing. Then, I bought a dimmer and dimmed it down to about half and fixed my problem. So 240 watts of t5s were great amd 65 watts of the samsung lm301s were too intense for the young ones. Idk, could be an issue here too. 233 watts of bright white leds sounds too high for seedlings in my opinion.
I’d give in & get either pH-Down or battery-acid from an auto parts store; after messing with citric acid for a year I made the switch & won’t ever use citric acid again.
I vaguely remember reading something like this here awhile back might have been in one of your threads. What was the reason for this? It wasn’t as effective as the other 2? I haven’t noticed an insane amount of pH drift in the reservoir but it seems like it doesn’t do much to the medium.
I was even messing around a bit last night. I took a fresh solo cup put holes in it and filled it with pro mix. I added water the pH was around 6.2 but when I added solution from the reservoir at pH 5.5 and even after multiple times poured through the pH didn’t go down if anything it might have climbed a point or 2. I then put a bunch of citric acid water in a cup of nutrient solution and poured that through, finally the pH went down a few point but when I measured the solution it was at a pH of like 3 or lower
I’ll probably pick up some phosphoric acid at the store sometime this week. I would like to try sulfuric but no idea how or where to get it locally. I only started using citric acid because I ran out of pH down and me being the cheapass that I am I just used some I already had in the kitchen
I feel like repotting them to 3 gals with more medium might help with the buffering but I don’t want to end up with the same issue with bigger plants. The medium pH has been consistently pretty high the entire grow.
Any auto parts store will have it. Ask for battery acid. I was told 1 cup into a gallon. I used 2 cups to a 2 liter. Just made it stronger! It was $8 I think made 3-4 2 liters worth!
Ended up getting some phosphoric acid thanks to the advice in this thread. Then procrastinated a few days before setting up some more of the room and transplanting from the solo cups. Hopefully I won’t continue to have the medium pH go up now. The nutrient solution is currently at 5.6 just to be safe and I’ll measure the medium in a few days.
I can’t find the rest of my hangers for the lights so in the 4x4 tent I have a blurple light hanging from a string until I figure out where they are or buy some new ones I turned on my 2 sheet pan lights but the fans were being loud so I unplugged them, not sure what I should do.
I still have some setting up to do but most of the work is done. If anyone has any ideas on how to clean up the strings that are hanging like crazy from the lights I’d love to hear. With 32 of them hanging down it gets sketchy in there when plants get bigger. Drove me nuts last grow.
Sweet setup! I had a critical kush plant growing all weird with twisted leaves like that and its actually 1 of my nicest plants that is growing right now, glad I let it go and didn’t pull it.
Looking good in there. I usually coil up the extra string loosely then use a clip or some garden wire to hold it out of the way. If the loops are not too tight you can usually still adjust the height without unclipping.
Very nice grow!! I just pulled 3 Santero plants from flower myself the other day. One of the most ferocious grape smell felons I ever grew out!! I have to hold my breath getting her out of the tent, as every movement sends out the loudest grape smell, to the point I feel like I may throw up!!
And 2 of his Killer Lemon Haze plants we just adore!!
Best to ya!!
That’s not a great example, if you do it correctly you pull on one line and it comes completely apart and ready to go. If you know anybody that sails they can show you how to do it correctly.
One minor point @neogitus, I have yet to see anything sad in your grow log!
Doing great brother!
Checked the pH of the medium a little bit ago and it’s still reading high at 6.2-6.5. I guess I’ll have to add more acid/reduce the Ca. My nutrient solution was around pH 5.6 when I wet all the new soil to transplant. Have a feeling things might get worse before they get better.
RH is 60% air temp 80f EC 1.2
Good idea with the rope hanger knots. I’ll have to either learn that way or do a shittier version
edit: I also realized I actually didn’t have any rope hangers left so I ordered another 6 pair off amazon. Hopefully the other tent can survive off a 130w blurple for a day or 2.
I turned on my 2 sheet pan lights but the fans were being loud so I unplugged them, not sure what I should do.
over load smell? I’ve got a few strains from him that might need exploring .